Those who Walk the Realm of the Dead
by DarqueDeath4444
Summary: The Haruno clan are known for their unique relationship with the dead. To them, hearing whispers, seeing the ghosts wandering the planes and having their bodies taken over by spirits are common occurrences. However, once in a hundred years, the 'Reaper Child' is born. The chosen of this century, Sakura can walk the land of the dead at will, the limit to her powers unknown.
1. Chapter 1

**So...a new story...**

 **Don't read if you don't like depressing death-y stuff.**

 **Also, does anyone remember what day it is today...?**

 _ **Chapter ONE**_

Ever since she could remember, Sakura could see the dead. Surrounded by family members, children and adults alike, who could _also_ see the dead, Sakura spent the first few years of her life not knowing that this wasn't _normal._

However, even within her clan full of people with rare powers, Sakura was different. The moment she had been born, her clan mates had known she was different, and so, Sakura often noticed this. However, no one said anything, so she didn't either.

Some time ago, Sakura may have thought that it had to do with her title as clan heiress, but now, she had heard enough stories to know that that was not the case. The black thorn like marks that adorned her neck, her wrists and her ankles stood out sharply against her skin, the proof of her existence.

She was the Reaper child.

* * *

The first thing the clan children were taught was the difference between a 'ghost' and a 'spirit'.

Ghosts were the souls of those who were dead, but were yet to travel over to the 'other side', known as the 'Yomi no Kuni'. They were recognized by a faint blue glow around their wrists, with a thread that linked them either to someplace or someone who was 'blocking' their entry into the Yomi no Kuni. Their voices could not be heard. The children of the clan were taught how to lead them to the land of the dead.

Spirits, on the other hand, were those who slipped back to the the world of living after they had set foot on the land of the dead. Once they had made the journey, apart from a few limitations, they were free to do as they please. They could also let their voices be heard from the Yomi no Kuni. The only part of the physical world they could not experience was direct touch, but when they did make contact with a Haruno, they would feel a chill, as though something jellylike was slithering down the area of contact. A majority of the phantoms occupying the Haruno compound were spirits.

The ability to talk to the dead was awakened in stages.

At first, it started off with simple words.

Once or twice a month, Sakura started to hear a muffled voice giving one word orders, most of them being things such as 'duck' or 'hide' or warnings, such as 'quiet' and 'coming'.

Sakura didn't know whose spirit was telling her all this, for she had looked around many times but had never once seen the owner, but she always did as the voice told her to. Her current winning streak in hide and seek was a clan record.

Once or twice, she had tried to converse with it but the replies took a while to come back and were always one worded and after a while, Sakura gave up.

Then, over the months, the voice became clearer. Sakura was able to note that the voice was male. It also began to speak in short phrases rather than single words and the amount of times it made itself heard also increased.

At the age of four, most voices became clear and the spirit seeing sight of the children fully developed and it was not rare to see the excited children of the clan running around, talking to the specters for the first time.

While all members could see spirits, their voices could only be heard by the ones the voice wished to be heard by. Sakura was very pleased of this. Out of everyone, this helpful voice had chosen to speak to her.

Children games became more intense as spirits began to pick favorites and tried to help.

During one of their games, Sakura spied the spirit of Haruno Takeru, a shinobi who had fought and died in the Third Shinobi war, whispering into the ear of his younger cousin, pointing out hints.

Sakura carefully tucked her head back into the grass and tuned in to her voice.

 _'Stay low and once the child finishes counting, head towards that tree.'_

Sakura noted that the 'it' child had reached sixty seconds and once she had run off to begin her search, Sakura did as told.

Soon, this one victory became another of many.

* * *

It took her a while to figure out that her first spirit friend was someone pretty amazing. He first appeared in front of her on her sixth birthday. After a few hours of trying to hide from her clansmen and constant nagging from the voice, Sakura had finally managed to slip out of the celebration. Out of habit, her feet took her up to her roof, where she sometimes spent time arguing with the voice over nothing. She sat down then quickly zoned out, eyes halfheartedly following the movement of a few spirits that mingled around. Sometimes, someone else would try and whisper to her but her voice seemed to like chasing them away.

Suddenly, she felt a brush of air at the back of her neck a whipped around. She blinked in surprise, not know what she had been expecting, and found herself staring into a pair of piercing pink eyes.

'I believe it is your birthday today, Sakura.'

Sakura instantly knew that this dude was not a part of her clan. However, she blinked a few more times, then rubbed at her eyes. "Your voice..."

The voice belonged to a young man who looked like a teenager. He waved his hand dismissively. 'It took me a while to figure this out.' He said. 'I'm glad I got it by today.'

"I...I've seen you before." Sakura murmured.

The man nodded. 'Of course. I'd be surprised if you haven't.' He hummed. 'Then again, you are but a mere child.'

"I'm six." Sakura said, feeling a little insulted.

'Yes, I can see that.' The man sat down next to her.

Sakura steeled herself into place. It had never been this awkward when she could only hear his voice. Though nervous, unwilling to move away. She could feel the ghost's eyes boring into her and suppressed the urge to flinch. Finally gathering her courage, she allowed herself to peek at him from the corner of her eye. She curiously traced the stitch like marks running from his left eye down to his cheek.

"Who are you?" She asked quietly. "Where do you come from?" She knew that most of the ghosts and spirits that lingered around were deceased Haruno, because the Haruno compound was surrounded by seals that kept most of the others away. Wandering souls yearned for contact, but having a large amount of spirits screaming into their ears could overwhelm a Haruno. Once in awhile a powerful ghost or spirits would manage to push past the wards, but there weren't that many, so the Harunos agreed to let them stay. This man must be one of them.

'I've come to realize that I came a long way.' The man just as quietly. 'I come from Kirigakure.'

"Kiri..." Sakura trailed off, eyes widening. "You're..."

The man smiled. 'My name is Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure.'

* * *

 **NEW STORY:**

 **The Core (Sakura x Akatsuki/Sakura x Multi):**

 **The Akatsuki are an Elite Police Authority group stationed in a city where the lives people are influenced by the predictions of a Supercomputer. The predictions had never been wrong ever since Version Sakura had been released. However, when the computer shuts down one day for no reason, they come across the horrifying truth and the Akatsuki must confront their twisted government.**

* * *

 **So...Ye...Like if you want us to continue.**

 _ **Darque: This is awesome. I get to write a new fic**_ **and** _ **introduce one of my top five favorite characters!**_

 **Raven: Okay...**

 **Well, like we said, new story, but you guys don't get to complain, cause we know that deep down, you're happy!**

 _ **Also, Happy Birthday to us! We're sixteen now!**_

 **Meh, so leave us an extra long review, okay?**

 **Read and Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter TWO**_

Sakura knew about the powers she wielded as the Reaper Child. There were plenty of gossip, rumors and stories to learn from.

It was the night after her first meeting with the spirit that she was first pulled into the realm of the dead.

She had gone to bed and closed her eyes, only to open them again what seemed to be seconds after to find herself in a world of red and black. She quickly glanced around, taking in the dark shadows that looked like mountains in the far distance, then the torii gates seemingly placed randomly in the area around her.

"I've been waiting for you, Sakura."

Sakura turned around to come face to face with her first spirit friend. "Where am I?" She asked, though she was sure she already knew.

"Yomi no Kuni." Yagura replied casually. He eyed Sakura's confused look. "Choose one." He said suddenly, gesturing towards the torii.

Sakura eyed him, but randomly pointed towards a door. "That one."

Yagura hummed. He reached out and Sakura let out a soft gasp when his hand wrapped around her smaller one. He let out an amused chuckle and swung her up into his arms.

"I can walk!" Sakura said.

"We're faster this way." Yagura cleared the space between them and Sakura's chosen torii in one bound.

"How can we..." Sakura trailed off.

"Touch?" Yagura asked. "That's because currently, you are your soul."

Sakura blinked and Yagura sighed. "Think of your physical body as a container for your soul." He said. "When you are awake, you are a physical being while I am a spiritual being. However, when you are asleep, you shed you physical host. In the realm of the dead, you are also a spiritual body."

Sakura hummed, only really getting half of what he had said. "So I can touch you cause I'm asleep."

Yagura did not seemed very pleased with the simplified version of his explanation but he nodded. "Yes."

"Okay."

Yagura stepped through under the torii and Sakura opened her mouth to question what he was doing, when she blinked and found herself in a completely different location from the previous world of black and red. "Huh?"

"There is more than one scenery to the Yomi." Yagura said. He placed Sakura on the ground, and she did a twirl, taking in the green scenery of the forest. She turned around and noted the the torii gate was still there.

"We're still in Konoha." Yagura sighed. "I think I know where we are."

Something screamed at the back of her sensed and Sakura strained her ears. "Is that...?"

Yagura nodded, a frown on his face. "They're at it." He rolled his eyes. " _Again._ "

"Who?"

Sakura turned towards the sound of clashing metal but Yagura stopped her. "You'll die if you go there."

"But you won't, right?" Sakura grinned. "You're the great Mizukage-sama. I'm sure you can avoid a couple of fighting people."

Yagura did something that looked like a pout. "They're pretty good."

"I wanna see."

Yagura sighed and this time, Sakura did not complain when Yagura threw her over his shoulder. "Hold on." He jumped up onto the trees.

Soon, Sakura caught a flash of red from between the trees. "Fire?"

"Yup." Yagura moved onto the next branch. "One of them is an Uchiha. All of those bastards are proud of their 'fire techniques'."

The fire was soon put out by a huge water dragon.

"Cool dude, that one." Yagura said, sounding impressed. "He doesn't waste time."

Soon, Sakura could see the faces of the two people fighting it out. "Oh gods." She whispered. "Is that..."

Yagura jumped onto a branch directly above the fighting pair. "If you're about to say the second Hokage, you're right."

Indeed, fighting each other like their lives depended on it were Uchiha Izuna and Senju Tobirama.

Yagura watched one more fireball fly across the clearing before he landed neatly, a polite smile on his face. "Good day to be killing each other."

Both Izuna and Tobirama stopped in the middle of their...whatever they had been doing. Sakura frowned. If they stopped because someone had appeared, it must not have been a fight to the death.

"You're back!" The Uchiha scowled. "You _always_ interrupt us!"

Tobirama eyed Yagura, his red eyes glowing even in the daylight. "You would know about killing." He said. His gaze landed on Sakura. "Kidnapping little girls now?"

"I'm not the one that fights the same person at the same time at the same place everyday just because of a grudge that came from a century ago." He turned to Sakura. "The whitehead is Senju Tobirama." He said. "And the weird one is Uchiha Izuna. They fought each other when they were alive." He said. "And they decided to keep it alive as a tradition until the end of the world."

"The end of the world won't finish off the Yomi no Kuni." Sakura said. "Tou-sama said so." Sakura frowned. She tugged at Yagura's arm and he put her down on her feet.

"Who's she?" Izuna padded over to them, hostility of the previous fight gone. "She's cute. Can I keep her?"

Yagura narrowed his eyes. "No."

Izuna seemed to take that as a challenge. "I am the younger brother of _Uchiha Madara_." He said. "Even that should be worth more than a crazy old Mizukage." He smiled at Sakura. "Come here." He said. "I'm sure Nii-sama'll let me keep you."

"She's a living being." Yagura said. "And you're much older than me." He added.

Izuna paused, seeming to have decided to ignore the latter comment. "Really?" He asked, looking surprised. "Wow. I've never seen someone who can travel this way." He made a hand gesture. "Usually, it's only us going that way." He pointed the other way.

"When was the last time you've been to the surface?" Yagura asked mockingly. "She's special." He tugged Sakura behind him. "Of course she is. I found her."

"More the reason she shouldn't stay with you." Izuna said.

"Like you're any better." Yagura sneered. "I've been with her since she was born."

Izuna crossed his arms. "What's your name, girly?" He asked. "Get rid of the stitch face and I'll haunt you instead."

"You wish." Yagura yanked Sakura up into his arms. "Stay away from the creep."

Sakura glanced over at the white haired Senju, who hadn't said anything during the whole commotion.

She couldn't read his expression.

Yagura jumped up onto the trees, much faster than when he had been heading towards the fight.

"JUST WAIT, PINKY, I'LL FIND YOU!" Izuna yelled after them.

Sakura held back the urge to shudder. Yagura was someone she had known for a day, though if she said so, she was sure Yagura woudl count all the years he had spent talking to her. Still, she felt much more safe with the Mizukage than she did with the Uchiha, who was apparently supposed to be something great.

Yagura snorted at Izuna's yell. "Stay away from the creep." He repeated.

* * *

 **Here's chapter two!**

 **Yomi no Kuni is basically the land of the dead.**

 ** _Darque: Easter holidays are starting in two weeks time._**

 **Raven: So you get a holiday while I have school. Nice.**

 _ **Darque: I know, right?**_

 **Raven: I wasn't being nice.**

 _ **Darque: Oh.**_

 **Read and Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter THREE**_

Yagura's appearance brought more confusion and fear than Sakura had expected.

She was still a child, not even a part of the Academy and not an owner of a rank within the shinobi system, but there were plenty of cousins and uncle and aunts that instantly noticed that something was wrong.

Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, was _still alive._

Or he was supposed to be, anyways.

There had been no news what so ever about the death of a Kage or the appointment of a new one. Yagura himself had been shocked when a Jounin cousin stepped right up to him and asked him who he was.

Because he was sure he was dead, and that was why he was here, wasn't it?

When he had died, Yagura remembered floating around in a black world for a while before he had suddenly found himself in the Yomi no Kuni he knew today. He had wandered around for a while, unsure of where he was or how much time had passed. It had been pure luck he had bumped into his long dead Genin teammate, who had explained his situation to him. His former teammate had then left as quickly as he had come, once again leaving Yagura there, as confused as ever.

The first gate he had chosen had spat him out into Konoha and having never visited the most renowned Shinobi village on peaceful terms, he had decided to linger. It had taken him a while to realize that years had passed after his supposed death and that had quelled his suspicion concerning the lack of talk about the death of a Kage.

If there was one thing he was certain of, he had been attacked a week or so after he had been made Mizukage. There had been rumors of his prowess and his predecessor had made it clear who his successor would be so Yagura hadn't questioned why six year old Sakura had known who he was.

Once dead, no amount of disguise of jutsu could hide one's true identity from a Haruno and that made one thing clear.

The 'Yagura' walking around in Kirigakure was not who he claimed to be.

But no report to the Hokage had been made.

'Observe', they had said. 'That is our job.'

* * *

At the age of eight, Haruno children were expected to join the Academy.

However, this also overlapped with their first ever outings from the compound and Sakura finally understood why her clansmen tended to stay indoors most of the time.

Three months before the start of term, Haruno children were allowed outside the compound. Once, she had thought it would be better if they were eased into it over time, but now, she understood why that wasn't the case.

Even with the warding seals they were given, anyone younger than them would probably go insane.

Sakura looked to her left, where an older Haruno, Yuuhi, was accompanying her. Yuuhi was a pretty good Chunin in his late teen, and it was either him or his younger brother, Asahi, who usually accompanied her. While Konoha was a relatively safe, the elders had decided to have Sakura, who was clan heir _and_ the Reaper child, accompanied whenever possible.

She heard another echoing scream and covered her ears.

"You okay, Sakura-sama?"

Sakura looked at Yuuhi and nodded, teeth gritted stubbornly.

Yagura was hovering over her shoulder worriedly. Once in awhile, he would scare off a curious spirit, easing the pressure a little.

"It'll get better once you get used to it." Yuuhi said sympathetically. "You'll soon learn how to block it out."

It had been close to two and a half months since her first venture out of the clan compound and while it wasn't as bad as before, it still made her head pound.

Yuuhi was currently accompanying her in finishing their final process of her academy entry. They reached the Academy building soon and Sakura tried to tune out everything as the older finished off signing the last of the papers.

Once he was done, Yuuhi took Sakura's hand and led her quickly through the village, back towards their compound.

She had never been so glad in her life as she stepped through the gates. The warding seals caused the spirits that had tried to chase after her burst into dust, which then floated away a few meters and reformed. Yagura shot them a smirk, then haughtily floated through the gates after Sakura.

The voices faded away as well.

"I really do not want to go to school." Sakura said. "All the voices will drive me crazy."

Yuuhi chuckled sympathetically. "I remember the first day of school." He said. "The clan children often have some spirit or another trailing after them." He winced. "And I know you're more sensitive to things like this because, you know..." He gestured towards the thorn marks on her wrists. "But it'll get better." He grinned reassuringly. "Besides, Rokuro-kun, Hajime-chan and Kaito-kun will be going with you."

Sakura brightened at the mention of her cousins.

Yuuhi waved at a ghost hanging around the well in the garden. "You have training at noon." He reminded her. "We should go eat. I'm sure Yurika-san will prepare something for you."

* * *

The dreaded first day of school came way too fast. Sakura was the first to arrive at the gates. She froze the moment she was close enough and eyed the spirits floating around the outside of the walls.

'Don't they have anything better to do than linger outside a compound that will never welcome them?' Yagura asked loudly, meaning to be heard.

It probably wasn't a well known fact, but Yagura was not a morning person.

One of the ghosts, a Shinobi from Suna, looked up angrily, only to shrink back when Yagura met their gaze challengingly.

Everyone knew of the Fourth Mizukage and the terror he had spread over Kirigakure during his rule.

Sakura, however, was not fazed. "You're the one that spent the past seven or so years telling me how to win hide and seek." She muttered.

'I do not like to lose.' Yagura replied hotly. He smirked and thrust a hand through Sakura's chest. He couldn't touch her in the living world and Sakura blinked at him, unimpressed.

Yuuhi and Asahi were the the first to arrive. Yagura scowled when he sensed their arrival and vanished.

He didn't seem to like them very much.

"Kura-sama!" Asahi called. He waved and Sakura waved back.

"Asahi." Yuuhi said curtly. While close, Yuuhi disapproved of Asahi's laid back personality and was much stiff. Yuuhi sighed when his brother ignored him, and instead, turned to Sakura and greeted her politely. "Sakura-sama."

"Good morning, Yuuhi, Asahi." Sakura grinned.

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned back towards the compound. Aside from her parents, there was only one person who actually called her that. "Rokuro!"

Sakura and Rokuro had grown up together, for Rokuro's father was Sakura's mother's younger brother.

The girl walking behind him whacked him not so lightly with her bad. "Be respectful." She whispered harshly.

Hajime and her younger twin brother, Kaito, came from a family that had served the main house as retainers for as long as anyone could remember, and she held an unhealthy devotion towards Sakura.

"You're just too formal." Rokuro retorted. "Right?" He turned to Kaito.

The boy meekly shook his head. "I think you need to be more respectful." He said, agreeing with everything his twin sister said, as usual.

"Are you kids ready?" Asahi asked, grinning.

Sakura nodded, though she knew she was probably not.

Rokuro simply pouted. He skipped up to plant himself beside Sakura. "So, you ready?"

Hajime quickly slipped into the spot on Sakura's right. "Of course she is." She replied hotly. "She's Sakura-sama!"

Asahi chuckled. "Let's get going, shall we?" He said. "You don't want to be late on the first day of school, do you?"

"But it's really early." Kaito said softly.

"It's better to be early and late." Sakura said, remembering what her father had told her. "Being late would give people a chance to bring up a fault."

Kaito frowned, deep in thought, while Hajime nodded rapidly. "Yeah." She said.

The Chunin brothers dropped them off at the gates of the Academy.

"I better get going." Asahi said. "I have a mission I have to head out to at noon, and I have to get ready."

"You've known about this mission for at least a few days, and you still haven't packed?" Yuuhi asked in exasperation.

Asahi chuckled nervously and Yuuhi sighed. "I'll help you." He said. "I will come at the end of the day to pick you up." He told the children. "If I happen to be late for whatever reason, please wait here."

Sakura nodded on behalf of her cousins.

"Let's go, Sakura-sama."

* * *

 **This chapter deleted itself three times before we finally managed to get it up.**

 ** _Darque: Apologies to those of you who aren't fond of OCs. However, they were kind f necessary in order to portray Sakura's life within her clan, since there are no other Harunos in NARUTO canon apart from Sakura and her parents._**

 **Raven: They will probably appear less and less as the story progresses and Sakura grows and moves further away from the safety of the compound. However, we believe they will make an appearance once in a while.**

 _ **Darque: Why so formal?**_

 **Raven: Just matching your tone. Have you been working on an English essay or something.**

 _ **Darque: Yeah. It's very tedious.**_

 **Raven: Ooooo, Darque's using big words.**

 _ **Darque: Shaddap.**_

 **Raven: :)**

 _ **Darque: Anyways, I'm going to go work on analyzing 'Road 1940'. No offence, but it's very boring.**_

 **Raven: Good luck~**

 **Read and Review~**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter FOUR**_

The moment Sakura and her cousins stepped through the doors of the Academy, Yagura made his presence known.

Rokuro stared in awe, still unable to believe that the Fourth Mizukage had decides to haunt his childhood friend. Kaito simply looked away, unwilling to make eye contact, let alone look at him, while Hajime shot the man a suspicious look.

Yagura nodded at Sakura and simply ignores her cousins, as though he were above them and they weren't worthy of acknowledgement.

He glanced around their current location and took it upon himself to comment on everything about the Academy, from the curriculum to the structure to the class system.

Halfway to their classroom, there was a familiar puff of black smoke as the gates to the Land of the Dead opened.

Kaito and Hajime were often haunted by their dead older sister who had died of illness two years ago at the age of sixteen, and no doubt she had appeared to wish her siblings luck on their first day of school. She stiffened at the sight of Yagura flying around as though he owned the place, more out of fear than actual surprise, before she composed herself as if there was nothing wrong with a dead Mizukage haunting a young girl.

As Yagura continued what he called 'Helpful Criticism', Haruno Miyuki would manage to gather the courage to make her own input.

It took her a while, but it was understandable, seeing that she was trying to speak up against Yagura, the feared Fourth Mizukage of the Bloody Mist.

The strength of a person when they were alive followed them even after death. Yagura was obviously the more 'superior' of the two, and he could have easily forced Miyuki back through the gates of the Yomi no Kuni. Maybe it was the fact that Miyuki had actually attended the Academy, or maybe it was that her points were actually good and made sense, but Yagura didn't comment when the passed Haruno said something. He simply nodded in a way that made you question whether or not one was listening, something he probably picked up during his times as Kazekage, before he went on, criticizing everything he saw.

"I'm pretty sure we won't need to know how dunking someone underwater is the best method of interrogation." Sakura muttered, cutting off Yagura's rant about the lack of brutality in the shinobi Academy these days. "Besides, how did you even sustain the Shinobi system when you killed all but one Genin every graduation?"

Yagura gracefully twisted around the pinkette to float in front of her. He kneed her in the face with force that would have broken a few bones had he been alive.

'In case you forgot, that me is not me.' Yagura said. He made a face. 'Even now, some weirdo is prancing around, claiming to be me.' He sighed, as though he had remembered something bad from his times alive. 'Oh, Sakura, this is horrible~' He flew around again and slung his arms around her from behind.

Sakura hummed and patted his arm, already used the the airy cold feeling of coming in contact with a spirit.

* * *

Their teacher was a Chunin by the name Umino Iruka. When the Harunos entered the room, he looked up, clearly surprised at their early arrival. However, he composed himself quickly enough and he smiled brightly at them.

"You're early." He stood up from his desk and walked towards them. "Well, there's nothing wrong with that." He grinned. "You get first pick. Why don't you pick a seat?"

Hajime smiled at the man in approval then turned to Sakura. "Where would you like to sit, Sakura-sama?"

None of them gave the pair of spirits hovering over the man a second glance.

"Edge?" Rokuro asked. "We can hide."

"But they might corner us." Hajime argued. "How about middle, so we can bolt in any direction."

"Are we even allowed to bolt?" Kaito asked quietly.

While her cousins bickered, Sakura turned to Yagura, wondering if the Fourth Mizukage would have anything to suggest. Miyuki had left after wishing them all luck. It took a lot of energy to constantly keep a visible form and she wasn't powerful enough to maintain it for long.

'Don't worry, Sakura.' Yagura drew himself up to his full height. 'I'll chase them away.' He smiled amicably and Sakura noted that while unable to touch the physical world, Yagura, as well as his techniques, could touch other spirits.

Sakura could hear the pair hovering over Iruka chattering and glancing towards them and sighed. "How does it feel to be able to hear people gossiping about you?" She asked.

'Being dead doesn't give me super hearing.' Yagura said blankly. 'But it is amusing to see the reaction of the dead Konoha shinobi when they recognize me.'

Sakura watched her cousins bickering for a while, before she plopped herself by the window, somewhere in the middle. Her cousins only stopped when other people began filling in. Hajime say at the edge of Sakura's row while Kaiyo and Rokuro occupied the row in front.

Sakura felt her stomach sink when the third person to enter the room had a shinobi looking person tailing them. The first thing they saw happened to be Yagura doing flips midair. There was a flash of silver and a burst of movement, before the two had weapons locked.

'You! Why are you in Konoha?' The Konoha shinobi snarled.

'Why can I not be in Konoha?' Yagura asked. 'Now that I am dead, there are no limits to my movements.' The third Mizukage flung the other away with impressive strength and released his killer intent. 'Do I even know you?'

'What you did during the war-' The Konoha shinobi froze, having realized that something was very wrong. 'Wait. You-'

Sakura, who knew what was happening, felt a shiver run down her spine. Were the chills that run down one's spine caused by spiritual KI?

Sakura knew that spirits could not die. They would simply reform where they had started after death. She watched Yagura loom over the Konoha shinobi and casually raised his kunai. Sill, it must feel like dying again.

"Hey! No murder in the classroom!" Surprisingly, it was Rokuro that stepped in.

Sakura eyed her cousin, then the people who were now staring at them, then sighed.

Yagura looked up from his prey, frown on his face. 'And why not?' It was well known between the Harunos that Yagura did not like being reminded that he was dead.

"Because we will be learning here for the next few years." Hajime said. "I don't want to be haunted by a vengeful spirit, thank you very much."

'Harunos...' The Konoha shinobi trailed off, then turned to look at Yagura. 'You're linked to the Harunos?'

Yagura smirked. He lowered kunai as though he were done, and hovered over to Sakura. 'Meet the Reaper Child.'

The Konoha shinobi froze and gaped at her.

Yagura eyed him, and with a casual flick of his fingers, he had a kunai buried to the hilt in his forehead. He Konoha nin began bleeding black smoke, and by the time he had opened his mouth, to scream or to complain, the doors to the Yomi no kuni had opened, pulling him back.

Hajime groaned. "I just did not see that." She sighed. "Sakura-sama, please control your spirit~" She whined.

Yagura did not take to this kindly. 'Look here, little girl. _I_ chose _Sakura_ , not the other way around.'

"Sakura-sama can send you back anytime she wants!" Hajime shot back.

'But she won't.'

Sakura let out another sigh and leaned back, intent on ignoring everyone around her. Everyone was staring at them as though they were insane. In a way, Sakura understood. Who wouldn't think so if they saw someone talking to something they couldn't see?

* * *

It was only the first day, and everyone avoided them like the plague.

This, Sakura did not mind.

They had also caught the attention of all the spirits in the area.

This, Sakura did mind.

She could hear the voices of the formless screaming over each other, trying to be heard. She clamped her hands over her ears, feeling despair at the thought that she was going to have to endure this until she learnt how to block it all out.

Yagura knocked away a young girl spirit reaching for her hair and heartlessly forced her back though the gates.

Finally, during their first lesson after break, Rokuro snapped.

Right in the middle of a lecture on how to be respectful to one another. He slammed his head onto the table, the sound effectively making Iruka pause.

"Don't you have a seal?" He asked. He sat up and winced, a hang going to his head.

"I ran out." Hajime admitted. "I didn't think we'd need this much."

Kaito held up his seal. "This one is my last." He said.

"I am also on my last." Sakura said.

"Does anyone know how to draw one?" Hajime asked, searching through her books to see if she had missed any.

"I do." Sakura said. "But I-"

Rokuro placed a stack of paper in front of her. "Draw me one." He begged.

Sakura scowled. "We are in the middle of class." She said, fully aware that everyone had stopped to look at them.

Rokuro groaned. "I think I'll go insane." He whimpered. He halfheartedly swatted at a young boy spirit, who yelped as his body was destroyed by the limb. "Go away..."

Sakura eyed her cousin, then sighed.

She seemed to be doing that often today.

"Hang on." She picked up her brush and drew in a few complicated lines onto the seal paper. She waited for it to dry, then held it up with her index and middle fingers of her left hand. Her right hang formed the half tiger seal. She flicked her left wrist. "Harae tamae, Kiyome tamae!"

Ink lines began to appear on the ground around them. Once the final strokes had appeared in place, it began to glow brightly.

Students gasped and quickly pulled away eyes wide. Sakura clenched her right hand and narrowed her eyes. "Kyuu Kyuu Nyoritsuryou!"

Yagura not so helpfully covered her ears when the spirits in their immediate vicinity screamed in unison and vanished in puffs of black smoke. 'Should keep them away until they realize what exactly happened.' He offered.

Rokuro rubbed at his forehead and sank into his chair with a sigh. Sakura did the same, though she was sure they were doing to for different reasons.

* * *

 **'Harae tamae, Kiyome tamae' and 'Kyuu Kyuu Noritsuryou' are terms used by Onmyouji, or Exorcists.**

 **Harae tamae, Kiyome tamae - Basically 'Be banished, be cleansed'.**

 **Kyuu Kyuu Noritsuryou - Words of banishment used typically at the end of spells.**

* * *

 **Raven: You know, I can definitely see you in them.**

 _ **D**_ _ **arque: Huh?**_

 **Raven: You talk to yourself often.**

 _ **Darque: I do?**_

 **Raven: You do. And people stare at you.**

 _ **Darque: They do?**_

 **Raven: Yeah. You're always like 'Shit, I forgot about that homework', or 'Fuck, I forgot I had a test today', or 'Crap, did I have to bring that extract for English?' or something.**

 _ **Darque:...**_

 **Read and Review~**


	5. Chapter 5

**NEW STORY INFO AT THE BOTTOM!**

 _ **Chapter FIVE**_

The moment class had finished, all the students, apart from the Harunos, left the room as quickly as they could.

Rokuro scoffed and took his time packing his stuff. "What's their problem?" He asked. "I bet we're not the most creepiest clan out there."

Iruka smiled sympathetically at them from the front. "Most of them are civilian borns who aren't used to effects of a Kekkei Genkai." He said. "Give them some time." He hesitated. "But it's true you can see ghosts?"

"Spirits." Sakura corrected. "Yes."

Iruka looked interested, but he didn't press any further. He smiled at them and waiting until they had finished packing before he closed the door behind them.

* * *

As promised, Yuuhi was waiting at the gates for them. He greeted them respectfully, then politely asked them how their day had been.

Rokuro and Hajime instantly began complaining about the spirits and their classmates while Kaito hung meekly behind his sister.

Sakura turned towards the gates, where she had seen a boy a few years older than her waiting. As if feeling her gaze, the boy looked up, and Sakura blinked, feeling as though she had seen him somewhere.

"Nii-san!"

Sakura turned to the source of the voice and saw two boys running towards the gates from the school. Sakura caught sight of the two spirits flying after the two and felt the tension in the air between them. She flinched and quickly looked away.

Hajime caught her movement and stopped mid sentence, looking curiously over at the two boys and their spirits. "Those two are in our class." She said quietly.

Sakura winced. "Those spirits...I don't like them."

Yuuhi looked up when she shuffled towards him and he hummed. "Asura and Indra." He said.

Sakura froze. "What?"

Yuuhi nodded. "Those two are Asura and Indra."

"You mean _the_ Asura and _the_ Indra?" Rokuro asked.

Yuuhi nodded.

Sakura felt a tug and Yagura appeared over her, eyes narrowed. At his sudden presence, both spirits turned towards them.

Sakura took in a shaky breath and wrapped her hands around the ivy marks on her wrists.

However, neither spirit moved to confront them. Instead, when the two boys followed the older teen out of the Academy, they simply trailed after them, soon vanishing down the street.

"The blond is Namikaze Naruto. He is the current Hokage's son." Yuuhi said. "The other two are brothers. The older is Uchiha Itachi, the famed prodigy and heir of the Uchiha clan. The younger is Uchiha Sasuke."

"Stay away from them..." Sakura murmured. "I don't like them."

Yagura eyed her, then finally let out a soft hum.

* * *

That night, just like every night since her sixth birthday, she woke to a word or black and red. Yagura was standing a few feet in front of her. Wordlessly, he reached a hang out towards her and she took it, equally quiet.

The two of them spent a lot of time in a dimension that resembled Yagura's old training ground in Kiri, where he taught her the base theories of his techniques, which Sakura would then try to figure out the rest.

However, once in awhile, the two of them would step through a random torii and they would mess around with whatever they found there.

"I was 'reborn' in the training grounds." Yagura had told her. "I can sense which door lead to it."

Sakura watched red and black fade away into a lush green forest. SHe instantly picked up on soft humming and turned towards the sound.

Her movement rustled the leaves of a bush and the girl who had been picking herbs in the clearing jumped.

Sakura stiffened and took a step back when the girl whirled around, a hang on her kunai pouch. She felt a hand land on her shoulder and turned to see Yagura beside her.

"Who are you?" The girl called curiously.

Sakura eyed the purple rectangle marks on her cheeks.

Yagura nudged her and she blinked. "I am Haruno Sakura." She said. "You might know him-" She gestured towards Yagura. "But this is Yagura."

The girl's eyes widened, before the light in them dimmed a little. "I've...seen him in Bingo Books." She said. "Isn't he a bad guy?"

Yagura crossed his arms, looking offended, so Sakura quickly spoke up. "He's cool." She said, both to reassure the girl and calm Yagura down. "He helped me win games of Hide and Seek when I was young and he trains me."

The girl looked at Sakura for a while. "You're pretty young." She finally said.

"She comes from that way." Yagura spoke up, pointing towards the sky.

The girl gasped. "Really? I've never seen anyone come here while they're alive. What's it like right now?" She blushed and grinned. "I forgot. I'm Rin. Nohara Rin."

* * *

None of her cousins questioned the new addition to her Spirit followers.

Yagura and Rin, after getting over the whole 'Evil Mizukage' thing, got along pretty well. They had one major thing in common, and that was that they had both been Jinchuuriki of the Three Tails.

"When the Three Tails was sealed within me," Rin began. "The enemy shinobi claimed to be from Kirigakure."

Yagura shot her a blank look. "I did not order anything like that."

Rin eyed him.

"I had the Three Tails sealed within me after your death." He said. "We were at war. I would have never done something like hand over such a huge asset for something in which the chances of failure are higher than the ones of success."

Rin had inspected him for a while longer, before she nodded, accepting his answer. She then revealed that while she was stuck in the age which she had died at, in mind, she was actually in her early twenties. She was also very intelligent and she asked all sorts of questions which Yagura seemed more than willing to answer and the two often spent time talking about theories and strategies.

It wasn't hard to avoid the two boys and their spirits either. The two were immensely popular and were always surrounded by other children. That combined with the fact that the Harunos were avoided helped keep them far away from the pair.

Sakura glanced over at Rokuro, absentmindedly noting that he was rubbing at his head again.

"Are they that loud?" She asked, referring both to their classmates and the voices.

Rokuro jumped and whirled around. "What?"

Sakura gestured towards the spirits who had begun reappearing after she had activated the seal a few hours prior. "There aren't even that many."

"Why'd you think that?" Rokuro asked.

"You're always rubbing your head." Kaito said quietly.

So he had noticed as well.

"It's nothing." Rokuro said. He grinned, then promptly turned back to the front. Kaito and Sakura exchanged a look before they too followed the lead of their cousin.

* * *

 **WE ARE LOOKING FOR A STORY...PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW IT.**

 **\- Sasori x Sakura, we think.**

 **\- High school AU**

 **\- They prank someone (Ino?). They knocked her unconscious and dump her in a bathtub full of dye, or something.**

 **\- Sakura says something about not really being friends with Ino and the others, and that they only want to be picked to go on an 'adventure', or something.**

 **PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW/FIND IT.**

* * *

 **NEW STORY:**

 **Ivy: (Sakura x Sasuke/Sakura x Multi?)**

 **Under orders, Uchiha Sasuke is sent to Orochimaru's side where he meets Sakura, an isolated girl willing to do anything for her father's recognition. Sasuke sees Orochimaru take advantage of his daughter's loyalty to make her do inhumane things and realizes that with her upbringing, she doesn't know any better. Deciding to dig deeper, he finds a lonely girl starved for affection.**

* * *

 **So, a little clearing up to do.**

 **AS THE REAPER CHILD, SAKURA IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN WANDER THE LAND OF THE DEAD. THE ABILITY OF THE REST OF HER CLAN IS LIMITED TO SEEING THE DEAD WHO ARE WANDERING THE SURFACE, HEARING VOICES AND HAVING/ALLOWING THEIR BODIES TO BE TAKEN OVER (WHICH WE WILL BE SEEING LATER).**

 **Sorry if it wasn't clear.**

 _ **Darque: I am a sad person.**_

 **Raven: You didn't know?**

 _ **Darque I am a sad person indeed.**_

 **Raven:...Actually, it's kind of creepy when you don't deny it. What's wrong.**

 _ **Darque: Nothing.**_

 **Raven: Then why are you sad?**

 _ **Darque: I just am?**_

 **Raven: But why?**

 _ **Darque; What is this? Am I not allowed to be sad? Is there some rule or some international law I don't know about?**_

 **Raven:...Wow...prissy much?**

 _ **Darque: If it isn't against some rule, I can be as sad as I want, so leave me alone.**_

 **Raven:...**

 **Read and Review~**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter SIX**_

While the Haruno clan was technically a shinobi clan, the way they spent their day was very different from clans such as the Uchiha or the Hyuuga.

After they woke up, the first thing any Haruno did was sort out any seals they would need during the day. While Sakura still only knew how to draw up the simple warding seal, the 'Rei barai no In', which repeled spirits from a certain area for a short amount of time, she knew that there were a wide range of others.

One was a banishment seal, the 'Tsuihou no In', which stopped chosen spirits from entering a certain area no matter what. This was used to cover the area around the Haruno compound and it stopped spirits that were either non Haruno or weaker than a certain level from entering in order to lower the number of spirits wandering around.

There was also a revival seal, the 'Fukugen no In', which allowed any spirit with the seal to be revived in an instant, regardless of how they had been destroyed, without them having to return to the Yomi no Kuni. While normal people could not see spirits, they could destroy said spirits without even knowing, usually with huge amounts of chakra pressure which disrupted their bodies. These seals were given to spirits when they were sent out to scout things such as battlefields.

Then there was an eradication seal, the 'Konzetsu no In', which destroyed the soul of a spirit. While spirits could never truly die, a spiritual attack took much longer to recover from. The power of a spirit was decided by the amount of chakra they had before their death. While Kage level shinobi could take six months at most to recover from the eradication seal and an average shinobi spirit could take around a year, a civilian level spirit could take several years.

It was the most complex seal Sakura had heard of and just the preparation of the seal paper was said to take days. The sealing area also had to be prepared specially for the process and Sakura knew from the complexity of it that the spirit would either have to be knocked out or agree to sitting still for a while.

Sakura knew that there were many more but the others were less generalized types and only Haruno's who decided they wanted to specialize in an area, such as warding, learnt them.

Once Academy had started, the times they could spend learning about seals and spirits and the likes was cut down. Sakura took to packing and preparing on the night before.

Sakura decided that the Academy was bearable as well.

The classes weren't too easy or too hard and the other students never bothered them any more than they had to.

All in all, she decided she didn't mind things as it was at the moment.

* * *

It was on her ninth birthday when she first bound herself to a spirit.

Celebrations had just ended and Sakura had retired to her room, tired after a huge clan dinner and a day of school.

It was Rin that greeted her when she opened her eyes. "Hi, Sakura-chan." She waved cheerily, looking out of place in the land of red and black.

"Hello, Rin-san." She looked around suspiciously. "Where's Yagura?"

Rin grinned. "It's a surprise." She said. "It was my idea but I can't deny that Yagura did meet you first." She sighed. "A pity really. Yagura is like an over grown baby."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

Rin's grin widened and she took her wrist. "It's a surprise." She repeated. "Come on."

Rin led her towards one of the gates and Sakura blinked when they appeared at a place she had never seen before.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Yagura's house." Rin ignored Sakura's surprised look and led her up the stairs, pushing her into what was probably a guest room. The older female began digging through the stuff, coming back with a box. "Yagura had this tailored." She explained. "He wants you to wear it."

Sakura opened it and took out a white kimono decorated with cherry blossoms which matched her hair and Yagura's eyes. "What is he planning?" She asked. "I'm too young to marry, you know?"

She had meant it as a joke but Rin's cheery smile melted away into something a little more solemn. "You could say that this is a vow of sorts, similar to a marriage." At Sakura's horrified look she giggled. "Similar." She said. "Not exactly."

Sakura breathed out. "Okay. A vow of sorts."

Rin nodded. "Come on, get changed." She smiled. "We don't have all night."

Under the older girl's instructions, Sakura changed into the kimono. Rin messed around with her hair and finally decided on letting it fall loosely down her shoulders.

Once Rin had deemed her ready, the two of them stepped out through the torii they had entered through. Rin led her through another set of gates and this time, Sakura found herself in an oohiroma, a huge room that was usually used for ceremonies and present in most clan compounds.

She saw Yagura seated at the head of the room, dressed in a dark red kimono and a black hakama with a dark green haori over it.

"I really am too young to marry." Still, Sakura tucked her kimono under her knees at sat on the spot next to him.

Rin sat in front of them.

"Aren't you going to leave?" Yagura asked.

Rin smiled charmingly. "Of course not." She said. "Who knows what you'll do to Sakura-chan?"

"We've been together since she was born." Yagura said. "She's still alive, isn't she?"

"This was _my_ idea." Rin retorted. "I get to stay."

Yagura sighed then turned away promptly, planning to ignore her. He reached out and took Sakura's wrists, lifting them so that they all could see the thorn marks. "Do you know what exactly these marks represent?" He asked.

Sakura shook her head. "There aren't any records and my parents wont tell me."

Yagura nodded. "That is expected." He said. "No parent wants a recorded number of how many people their child has killed."

"What do you mean?"

Yagura traced the thorn marks. "These indicate how many people you have killed."

Sakura yanked her wrists away from him. "Huh?"

Yagura didn't attempt to pull her back. "Perhaps my explanation wasn't clear." He paused. "Those indicate the number of spirits you have made a vow with."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean 'vow'?"

"The powers of the Reaper Child is not limited to simply opening the gates." Yagura said. "They can do so much more, but the most stand out of them is your ability to bind yourself to spirits. For example, the skill of allowing a spirit to take over one's body requires not only the consent of bother the Haruno and the spirit. However, by making a vow, you bind spiritually bind yourself to a spirit and you no longer require the time and patience needed to establish a link." He tapped her marks. "These black marks indicate the number of spirits that are bound to you. The more thorns, the more spirits."

Sakura frowned. "What has that got to do with...the number of people I've killed?"

Yagura hummed. "When you kill someone, they are automatically bound to you." He said. "Of course, unlike those you willingly made a vow with, these binds appear white and they can either be made permanent or they can be cut."

"I...I don't get it." Sakura murmured. "Why didn't anyone say anything...?"

"There are many things your clan is hiding from you." Rin said softly. "But don't think for a moment that they are doing so to hurt you. You are special, Sakura-chan. They are doing this for you, just like Yagura and I decided that it would be good for you to know."

Yagura shot her a dirty look but did not protest. Instead, he nodded to show that he agreed.

"And what about this?" Sakura gestured to her clothes. "What is this for?"

Yagura smirked. "Happy Birthday, Sakura." He said. "For your present, you get me, the great Yondaime Mizukage-sama as your first ever spiritually linked being."

* * *

 **WE ARE LOOKING FOR A STORY...PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW IT.**

 **\- Sasori x Sakura, we think.**

 **\- High school AU**

 **\- They prank someone (Ino?). They knocked her unconscious and dump her in a bathtub full of dye, or something.**

 **\- Sakura says something about not really being friends with Ino and the others, and that they only want to be picked to go on an 'adventure', or something.**

 **PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW/FIND IT!**

* * *

 **NEW STORY:**

 **Ivy: (Sakura x Sasuke/Sakura x Multi?)**

 **Under orders, Uchiha Sasuke is sent to Orochimaru's side where he meets Sakura, an isolated girl willing to do anything for her father's recognition. Sasuke sees Orochimaru take advantage of his daughter's loyalty to make her do inhumane things and realizes that with her upbringing, she doesn't know any better. Deciding to dig deeper, he finds a lonely girl starved for affection.**

 **And they swore beneath the Fire Lilies (Sakura x Neji sibling relationship / Sakura x Multi):**

 **Hyuuga Neji thinks 'Chance' is a stupid word. Such a simple word shouldn't define the power to change one's life. Hyuuga Sakura's world revolved around one person. She knows that once, they've seen the light they could no longer see and heard the song they could no longer hear. The story of a pair of broken siblings unable to escape the fate that has pitted them against the world.**

* * *

 **So, there is a little more information on what exactly the 'Reaper Child' is.**

 **The truth is, we thought Yagura broke the whole 'Reaper Child' thing to Sakura too suddenly, but then again, we couldn't really imagine Yagura sugarcoating it, so that was how it came out.**

 ** _Darque: I have Bio exam tomorrow..._**

 **Raven: Good luck...**

 _ **Darque: Love how we're both dreading it...**_

 **Raven: Please get at least one mark...**

 _ **Darque: I'll try...**_

 **Raven: Okay...**

 ** _Darque: Anyways, do you think Sakura was too accepting?_**

 **Raven: Maybe. I only wish you were like that.**

 _ **Darque: Huh?**_

 **Raven: I wish you didn't question everything everyone says. Like, 'In three little pigs, how did the pigs and the owlf communicate?'**

 _ **Darque: But it's true!**_

 **Raven: You used to be so cute and adorable back then. You were afraid of everyone and in summer school, you would always cling onto me and tried to follow me everywhere, including the boys bathroom.**

 _ **Darque; Shut up! You're the one that couldn't defend yourself for life and I had to punch people I didn't even know cause you started crying.**_

 **Raven: I guess that makes us even.**

 _ **Darque: Sure, that works.**_

 **Read and Review~**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter SEVEN**_

The binding vow did not require any sort of special ceremony or anything. They simply cut their fingers and let their blood drip onto a sakazuki cup. Rin then poured water over it and Sakura watched the blood mix with the liquid and become a pale red. They then swapped cups and drank from the other.

Yagura then sealed it with a kiss to her forehead.

He then took her hands and the two of them watched the thorn marks spread a little, eating away at her skin as they grew.

It burned a little, but when the pain vanished, it was as though nothing had happened.

Apparently, their fancy clothing was to celebrate her birthday more than for the actual vow, though Rin later pulled her to the side and insisted that it was because Yagura had wanted to see her in cute clothing that was not shinobi attire.

"I know Yagura didn't give you much time to actually think things over a stuff, but he doesn't want anything in return or anything, so you shouldn't worry too much." Rin grinned. "Next time, it'll be me."

Sakura smiled back.

"Now, why don't we go back before he blows a blood vessel?" Rin asked. The two of them giggled before they made their way back to their seats. Then Rin took it upon herself to fill the silence and they spent the rest of the night listening to her talk about the missions she had gone on as a Genin.

* * *

It was during lunch when it happened. Hajime had gone to see if she could find Miyuki so that she could tell them something regarding hand seals and she had dragged Kaito with her.

Rokuro had moved up a row to sit next to Sakura. The two of them had just finished and Rokuro had stood up to move back to his row in preparation for the next class when he had frozen in his steps.

Sakura, who had been noting Rokuro's strange behavior since last term, instantly noticed. "Rokuro?" She asked. "Are you okay?"

"Hey, Sakura?"

Sakura turned to fully look at him and tilted her head. "Yeah?"

"I-I don't feel too good." He said. "I..."

He suddenly collapsed, as though his knees had given way. Sakura lunged out and managed to catch him before he hit his head on the floor. The loud clatter of her knocking over the things on her table caught everyone's attention.

"Rokuro!"

Their classmates began talking at once. Iruka pushed through the sea of gathering children at the alarmed cry. "What-" He was instantly by the boy's side. "What happened?" He asked.

Sakura hesitated but did not complain when the man leaned over the panting boy.

"I don't know." She said. "He said he wasn't feeling good, then he just collapsed." She reached out and pressed her hand on his forehead. "He's recently been complaining about headaches and stuff, but the doctor said there was nothing wrong..." She glanced around but neither Yagura nor Rin were around. Either were Kaito and Hajime.

She clicked her tongue and created the one handed tiger seal, knowing that there were days when she managed to do this and days where she could not. Hoping that today was one of her lucky days, she called out.

"Hirake, Yomi e no tobira!" She took a deep breath. "Kyuu kyuu Nyoritsu Ryou!"

Along with a huge wave of chakra and the screeching of an old door only she could hear, a seal appeared in front of her. The lines splitting it down the middle moved to the side, revealing the red and black scenery of the land of the dead on the other side.

"Sakura-sama?"

Alarmed and summoned by the sudden surge of chakra, Kaito and Hajime darted into the classroom.

They both froze at the sight of the land of the dead, which they had only ever heard about in stories, before they caught sight of Rokuro and they darted forward. "Rokuro? What happened?"

"Yagura!" Sakura called softly. She felt a tug on her thorn markings and in an instant, the Fourth Mizukage appeared in front of her, summoned by their link. Sakura's control of the gates slipped but Yagura came through just in time. She fell backwards and landed on the floor, breathing heavily.

"Sakura-"

"Go get someone." She said. "Asahi or Yuuhi, or somebody!" She scrambled to her feet. "As fast as you can."

Yagura eyed her before his eyes glided over to land on Rokuro's shivering form and he nodded. "Very well."

He was gone in a puff of smoke.

Sakura quickly glanced around before she whipped around to face her clanmates. In the mess of everything, no one else seemed to have noticed the name she had called out. She crouched down beside her childhood friend. "Can you hear me? I'm calling someone, okay?"

* * *

Five minutes later, Asahi and Yuuhi, both whom had had the day off, appeared at the door.

The students stepped back and Iruka hesitantly drew back as well.

Asahi lifted Rokuro into his arms and shook him.

Yuuhi, who knew some medical ninjutsu, knocked the boy out and his suffering face slowly relaxed. "We'll bring him home." He said. "Maybe Maya-san can-"

"Shouldn't you bring him to the hospital?" Iruka asked.

Asahi eyed the man. "There's nothing they can do for him." He said. "Because they don't understand how we work."

"Sakura-sama, why don't you and your cousins finish school first?" Yuuhi asked. "I'm sure we can have Rokuro-kun stabilized before you return."

Sakura glanced over at Hajime and Kaito. Both of them looked pale and they imply blinked at her. "Okay." She said.

Sakura did not understand the pitying look Yuuhi and Asahi sent her way.

Not then anyways.

* * *

For the first time in her life, Sakura truly came to understand where the name 'Reaper child' came from.

It was the first time someone from the clan had told her about herself and it was also the first time Sakura wished she could continue to be ignorant.

Her ability to open the gates of the Yomi no Kuni at will gave her an almost endless source of knowledge.

However, large amounts of power always came with a price, and what scared Sakura the most was that she wasn't the one doing the paying.

She was the reaper. She was the one that took, the one that stole off the people around her.

She need a fuel for her powers and the the payment was the lifeforce of everything around her, and so she simply reaped off the life of those around her to fuel her own abilities, which didn't seem so much of a gift at the moment. The longer they spent around her, the higher chance of them dying.

Sakura wanted to vomit.

And the worse part of it was that no one within her clan drew away from her. They simply acted as though nothing had happened.

Rokuro's mother greeted her with a smile every time she saw her and his father always gave her small gifts from the other villages he had gone to for missions.

Hajime and Kaito stuck around, as close to her as ever, as though they weren't afraid that they would be the ones dying next.

It was as though they had all known, and they all understood, and it only made her feel worse.

* * *

'The Harunos don't fear death.' He said. 'We are raised to not fear death. That makes us so much more superior on the battlefield, because we are not held back by the possibility of dying.'

"Because we know that death isn't the end of the road?" She asked.

He nodded. 'We are free to wander even after our physical bodies die off. We have a second world where we can live our lives without dying.' He said. 'So no Haruno truly fears dying. Some believe death is a better alternative to living, because then, we become truly free.'

"Aren't you angry?" Sakura asked.

'Not really.' He said. 'We all understand the weight and responsibility placed on your shoulders. We tried to keep you unaware, but I guess that didn't turn out so well. Besides, I'm still here, aren't I?'

"So you all knew, and you all didn't tell me."

'I guess.'

"What am I even supposed to _do_?" She asked. "What is the purpose of the Reaper Child?"

'You don't have to worry about it yet.' He said lightly. 'You just keep living the way you are and enjoy it.'

"Does everyone know?"

'They do. Most of them anyways.'

Sakura closed her eyes.

"Why do they understand, when not even I do?"

'Because you're Reaper child. It's kind of our job to make sure you're fueled.'

"Why was it you?" She asked. "Why did it have to be you?"

'I was just lucky, I guess.' He grinned. 'Cause in a way, I was your first 'kill'.' He reached out. His hands went right through her wrist but Sakura knew what he wanted. She raised her arm and held it out. His fingers traced over the thorn marks on her wrists. Alongside the black markings of Yagura were white thorn markings.

'I think you need time to accept it.' Rokuro said. 'Then we can do the vow of binding and can truly be together forever.'

* * *

 **So, the Haruno clan seems to be more evil and dark than we first originally thought, hm?**

 _ **Darque: Just so you know, it was Raven that wrote ^That.**_

 **Raven: What? It's the truth.**

 _ **Darque: I dunno. You sound like a creep.**_

 **Raven: Do I?**

 _ **Darque: You**_ **do.**

 **Raven: I don't think I do.**

 _ **Darque: Of course you don't. If you did, would you have said that?**_

 **Raven:...No.**

 _ **Darque: Exactly.**_

 **Raven: Is that how logic works?**

 _ **Darque: Yup. Didn't you know?**_

 **Read and Review~**

* * *

WE ARE LOOKING FOR A STORY...PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW IT.

\- Sasori x Sakura, we think.

\- High school AU

\- They prank someone (Ino?). They knocked her unconscious and dump her in a bathtub full of dye, or something.

\- Sakura says something about not really being friends with Ino and the others, and that they only want to be picked to go on an 'adventure', or something.

PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW/FIND IT!


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter EIGHT**_

Rokuro's disappearance was of course noticed by many. However, the Haruno's were careful in not letting anything show and that in itself was't too difficult, not when Rokuro's spirit still sat in his seat as if nothing had happened.

No one ever brought it up or questioned it. Iruka never addressed it either and no doubt he hadn't been told the whole truth regarding to the boy's disappearance.

The Haruno's still talked and interacted with him as though nothing had changed. He still complained when they were given homework and he floated around during tests, relaying answers to them, something Yagura greatly disapproved.

If there was one thing Sakura thought changed, or rather, _allowed_ herself to think had changed, was her thoughts regarding 'death'.

Haruno's were taught from a young age to not fear death. They were told that death was something that limited one's maximum capacity, for it made people hesitate or pause to think before they did something. Humans were held back by the fear of dying, something the Haruno's didn't have to worry about.

It wasn't difficult to not fear death, not when they could see the dead, just like they had been when they had been alive. The Haruno's knew better than anyone how death was not the end. To them, death was simply like the second part of life. Death was the better, freer part of life where they weren't held back by physical limitations or rules and laws or the fear of being judged.

To Rokuro's, it probably wasn't much different. He only ever talked to his clan mates and none of their classmates ever attempted any communication. Not being seen by anyone didn't bother him.

However, after seeing everyone's reaction to them talking to Rokuro's, who not one of them could see, Sakura began to realize what non-Haruno's saw 'death' to be.

To them, death was something that stole away sir friends and their loved ones. It was the end and there was nothing beyond. This was because they couldn't see the dead. They feared death because they didn't know what came after it. They didn't fear 'death' but simply the idea of it. They feared not knowing.

* * *

The first year soon came to an end without any other major occurrences.

The second year passed without much either. More histories, more strategies, more theories. The Haruno's were as isolated as ever, though people slowly began to get used to them talking to things they couldn't see.

The third year, however, was something Sakura was dreading. While the first two years had been majorly built around the idea of slowly easing the children into the ways of a Shinobi through the history and the most basics of rules and expectations, the next year would be slightly more based on the practicals.

From the third year onwards, lesson focuses moved on to the Shinobi systems, which, unfortunately for the Haruno's, included a lot of group work or more specifically, working with people whose names they didn't even know.

Iruka had a seating plan ready for them when they walked in for their first lesson of their third year.

And just her luck, her seat ended up being right next to one Uchiha Sasuke. Yagura, who had been sticking to her side all morning, let out a soft hiss.

"Not even you can fight him away, I bet." Sakura murmured. She eyed Indra warily.

'Draw me one of those Immortality seals, then.'

"I don't know how to." Sakura whispered.

Yagura sighed. 'Come on, your teacher is waiting.'

Sakura took a deep breath and marched up to her seat. She didn't even notice the dark scowl Sasuke was sending her way.

Yagura did, though. 'The Uchiha boy doesn't seem to like girls.' He noted.

Sakura blinked at the boy before she carefully raised her gaze to look at Uchiha Indra. The older man turned to look at her and Sakura flinched under his dark gaze.

Yagura casually placed himself between Sakura and Indra. Sakura perched herself on the edge of her seat, which was fortunately at the end of the row, ready to bolt at any second.

They learnt about the creators of Konoha that day. Homework was to read up on Uchiha Madara.

She didn't think things could go worse.

But it did.

Because _he_ found her.

* * *

The next day, Sakura was early as usual. Sasuke had yet to arrive and she kept her head low in case he came in anytime soon.

Soon, the door was shoved open with a clatter and she heard the voices of Naruto and Sasuke arguing about what the best food in the world was.

The Uchiha broke away from the blond at his row and he slipped into his seat without a word towards her.

That was when she felt a shiver run up her spine. Yagura let out a guttural growl and she quickly looked up to find whatever it was that had disrupted Yagura's calm air and came face to face with a distinctively familiar pair of onyx eyes.

She yelped and jerked back, for a moment forgetting about how she had been sitting at the edge. She fell backwards and landed on the floor, hard. She winced.

'Sakura.' Yagura was instantly by her side, glaring up at the grinning blacked haired man. From behind him, Sasuke was staring at her weirdly.

'Found you Pinky~'

Sakura desperately dug into her pocket and pulled out a warding seal. Izuna paused in his steps and raised his hands defensively. 'Woah, hold, hold.'

Yagura glared at the Uchiha. 'Blow him up, Sakura.'

'So her name's Sakura? It suits her.' Izuna's grin widened at Yagura's increasingly deadly glare. 'So Sakura-chan, why don't you ditch the Mizukage and come with the amazing me?'

'Sod off, Uchiha.' Yagura stood up and slowly got into a fighting stance.

'Hey! I saw how upset Kura-chan was and asked Indra-same to take a break, or something.' Izuna's puffed his chest out. 'Be grateful, brat.' He glared at Yagura.

'Don't play the elder card only when you feel like it, old man.' Yagura glared right back, pink eyes flashing. He held up his hand to show off his wrist, which was now marked with thorn like marks identical to Sakura's. 'She's my binder.' He said. 'So run along, Uchiha.'

Right before a historical fight could break out, Sasuke spoke up, completely unaware of the two legendary figures they often leant about in class getting ready to fight it off.

"What are you doing on the floor?" He asked.

Sakura blinked and quickly looked around. It looked like the last of the students had filed into their seats. She scrambled to her feet but hesitated, eying the older Uchiha warily.

'Look at what you've done.' Izuna's complained. 'She's scared of me.' He leaned back, though, and sat on the desk a row behind. 'Sit down, Kura-chan.' He said. 'I don't bite.'

Sakura slowly sat down. Sasuke shot her one more weirded out look before turning to face the board.

'Are all of your descendants rude?' Yagura asked, glaring at the boy.

'Shut up.'

"Will you please be quiet?" Sakura asked, trying to keep her tone stable. "I'm trying to learn here."

'No need.' Izuna's leaned in and pointed at the board. 'Look at who you're learning about.,

Sakura stared at the board. "Uchiha Madara..." She froze. "Wait. Isn't that-"

Izuna's grinned. 'I know more about him that any text book.' He said proudly.

Just then , Iruka pointed at her. "Sakura."

Sakura instinctively stood up.

"Please tell me something about Uchiha Madara except for the things written on the board." Sakura gave said board a once over.

Sakura blinked and turned to Izuna. "Well? Tell me something useful."

Izuna snapped his fingers. 'His hobby was falconry. His favorite food was inarizushi and he disliked ikura.'

Sakura blinked at him.

"Sakura?" Iruka pressed.

"He liked falconry." She said. "And he also liked inarizushi and disliked ikura."

Iruka stared at her. "...And where did that come from?" He asked slowly.

"Izuna told me."

She kind of understood the weird looks she got.

* * *

 **HE FOUND HER~**

 _ **Darque: I kind of like Yagura and Izuna's relationship.**_

 **Raven: Well, it' certainly unique. Not something you see often.**

 _ **Darque: Of course I'm unique.**_

 **Raven: I never sa id anything about _you_ being unique.**

 _ **Darque: Well, I've gotta be unique if I want to write something unique, right?**_

 **Read and Review~**

* * *

WE ARE LOOKING FOR A STORY...PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW IT.

\- Sasori x Sakura, we think.

\- High school AU

\- They prank someone (Ino?). They knocked her unconscious and dump her in a bathtub full of dye, or something.

\- Sakura says something about not really being friends with Ino and the others, and that they only want to be picked to go on an 'adventure', or something.

PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW/FIND IT!


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter NINE**_

Everything was a blur after that. The moment Iruka released the class, Sasuke had her wrist in a tight grip. Sakura opened her mouth to protest but the Uchiha silenced her with a glare.

Sakura bit her lip. "What?" She asked.

"You aren't lying about the Izuna-sama thing, right?" He asked. He pulled her towards the door and out of the classroom.

Sakura narrowed her eyes.

Yagura eyed the boy with distaste and turned to Izuna. 'Do something.'

Izuna shrugged. 'What'd you want me to do about it?'

'In case you missed it, I'm _dead_. He's _your_ descendant, right?'

'Just because-'

"Sakura-sama!" Hajime and Kaito appeared at her sides, startling Sasuke.

"What do you think you're doing, Uchiha?" Hajime asked.

Kaito did not say anything but he fixed the other boy with a cold look.

"That...is none of your business." Sasuke tightened his grip and tried to push past but Yagura smacked him. Though his hand went right through, the Uchiha paused, feeling a chill run up his spine.

"Miyuki-nee-sama has gone to get the twins." Hajime said.

Sasuke tensed and narrowed his eyes.

"Let go, Uchiha." Kaito said softly.

Sasuke turned around to face them.

'Ten O'clock, Sakura.' Yagura murmured. 'Uchiha boy's brother's here.'

The pinkette looked up at Yagura's voice and looked in the direction Yagura had pointed out. She couldn't see anything, though.

'Uchiha Itachi.' Izuna supplied.

A second later, the renowned prodigal heir of the Uchiha clan appeared right behind his brother.

Sasuke released Sakura's wrist and darted over to the older and began speaking rapidly in hushed words.

"Yagura." Sakura murmured.

The fourth Mizukage swept forward and hovered over the two brothers. 'He's reporting your words from today.' He said. 'Seems like they're looking for you, Old man.'

'Of course they are. I'm amazing and so me.' Izuna hovered over.

"You guys are so...lame." Hajime said. "Like, you're both so legendary and stuff and I never thought you'd be so lame."

Sasuke whipped around, probably thinking she was talking about them. He was right to do so, for he couldn't see anyone but them. Itachi stopped him from opening his mouth.

'Look, little girl.' Yagura loomed over her. 'I am perfectly normal. It's the monkey there that's picking a fight.'

'Talk about yourself, brat.' Izuna was quick to accept the fight. 'I'm not the one wandering around the wrong village.' He paused. 'And I am not lame.'

'You so are.'

Sakura's eyes brightened at the new arrival. "Rokuro!"

'Hey, Sakura.' He wrapped his arms around Sakura in greeting and Sakura no longer found herself bothered by the cold feeling.

Itachi chose that moment to walk up to them. "Haruno-san."

Sakura bowed. "Uchiha-san." Her cousins followed.

"I apologize for my brother's rude behavior." Itachi said. Sasuke looked ready to protest but he did not and instead, he looked away.

"It's fine." Sakura said. "I was just...surprised."

Itachi nodded. "The Haruno clan is a secretive as any other." He said. "He was just shocked to hear that you can contact the spirits of even people from so long ago."

Sakura nodded in understanding. "It's fine, really."

Just then, they all heard the rapidly approaching pair of footsteps and Yuuhi and Asahi appeared on the roof of the closest household.

The two of them simultaneously jumped down and joined their heiress. "Sakura-sama."

Yuuhi's expression was as blank as ever and there was not a hint of teasing in Asahi's tone.

"Hello, Uchiha-san." Asahi said.

"What may we do for you?" Yuuhi asked.

Itachi nodded in greeting before he slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry for suddenly barging over." He said. "It was of nothing too important. Please do not concern yourselves over it." He lowered his head again before he took Sasuke's hand. "Sasuke." He murmured.

Sasuke scowled but stepped forward. "Sorry for grabbing you." He muttered. "I...yeah, see you tomorrow."

Itachi nods one more time before the two Uchihas walk off.

"Are you okay, Sakura-sama?" Yuuhi asked.

Sakura nodded. "I was just surprised." She repeated.

'Next time, just cut his hand off.' Yagura suggested.

"Don't be so violent." Asahi said. "Kura-sama is an innocent little girl."

Yagura scoffed and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Izuna looked around before he saluted and he too vanished.

Yuuhi blinked while Asahi rolled his eyes. "Well, Kura-sama, shall we depart?"

* * *

Rin was waiting for her the moment she opened her eyes.

Sakura blinked and narrowed her eyes. "Where's Yagura?" She asked suspiciously.

Rin giggled. "Someone picked a fight with him and he went to...uh...'blow a hole through them'."

Sakura turned to the older female. "Who was stupid enough to pick a fight with..." She trailed off and her eyes widened. "Was it Izuna?"

Rin nodded. "I heard you had an interesting interaction with him today." She glanced around. "Maybe I should go up with you once in awhile."

Sakura nodded. "You are very welcome to do so." She rolled her eyes. "Yagura is so picky and whiny and Izuna is so quick as reacting to the insults Yagura throws at him and I can barely pay attention in class."

Rin frowned. "Now, that cannot do." She winked. "I'll come with you tomorrow, okay?"

Sakura nodded.

"Now, Yagura and Izuna went somewhere to fight it out." Rin explained. She took Sakura's hand and smiled. "They want you to come and see which one of them is better."

Sakura sighed but allowed Rin to lead her through one of the torii gates. The other side was a large clearing surrounded by trees. There was a small lake in the corner and Sakura could see the two moving at speeds too fast to see with the naked eye.

Izuna was launching an enormous fireball at Yagura who created a water bullet of his own. The two attacks collided and vanished in a huge puff of smoke and steam.

"This is unfair." Yagura called. "You've had over half a century of experience over me."

"Are you complaining?" Izuna called back. "Afraid you'll lose?"

Yagura landed on top of the lake and pressed his hands together. "No. That was just a warning that I will be leveling out the field a little."

"Oh gods." Rin murmured.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"When we die, we are 'reborn' in the Yomi no Kuni in our bodies from when we were the most powerful, or had the most potential." Rin explained. "No matter how powerful Yagura is, it is true that Izuna-san will probably be able to overpower him. Izuna-san too, will be at his most powerful, after all."

"If he's already at his most powerful, how does he plan to..." Sakura's eyes widened. "Wait, the most powerful..."

"Probably." Rin nodded. "I carried it for such a short period of time that I wasn't even able to unleash a tenth of its potential. It was set to release the moment I reached Konoha anyways." She narrowed her eyes. "But Yagura was different. He unlocked all the possibilities regarding it."

A tremendous pressure weighed down on them. Sakura gasped as she fell to the ground, her knees giving way. Rin hit the ground beside her and Sakura struggled to raised her head.

Yagura stood on the surface of the lake, a large, gray flat tail sprouting from his back. He was releasing wave after wave of chakra, pink eyes gleaming with a hint of red and a deranged smirk on his face. "Let's see you eat this, Old man."

Izuna let out a nervous chuckle and stepped back. He glanced around and waved frantically at Sakura.

"Hey Kura-chan! Can you ask your friend to play nice? He might lose control and OHMYGOSH-" Izuna ran.

Yagura let out a growl and the Sanbi Jinchuuriki cleared the lake in a single bound, like it was nothing but a small puddle, and flew at the panicked Uchiha.

"Kura-chan! Kura-chan! Help me, please! Oh, Yagura-san, I'm sorry! Please don't kill me-" Izuna was cut off when Yagura, still in his partial transformed form, threw him into the lake.

* * *

 **So, nothing too important here...Just some filler stuff...yeah...probably...unless we missed something...**

 _ **Darque: I think Izuna is very OOC.**_

 **Raven: I think it's fine. We don't have much on his character to begin with.**

 _ **Darque: But I like their relationship though. I can't wait to bring in To-**_

 **Raven: AGAJAVIJAVU!**

 _ **Darque: ...What?**_

 **Raven: NO SPOILERS NO SPOILERS NOOOOO SPOOOILERSSSSSSSS!**

 _ **Darque: ...Wow...**_

 **Read and Review~**

* * *

WE ARE LOOKING FOR A STORY...PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW IT.

\- Sasori x Sakura, we think.

\- High school AU

\- They prank someone (Ino?). They knocked her unconscious and dump her in a bathtub full of dye, or something.

\- Sakura says something about not really being friends with Ino and the others, and that they only want to be picked to go on an 'adventure', or something.

PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW/FIND IT!


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter TEN**_

Sakura's second binding, as promised, was with Rin.

It was set up the exactly same way, though this time, it was held in Rin's favorite clearing in the forest. Yagura had complained about the humidity and the state of Sakura's kimono, but had helped with setting up. Rokuro had, of course, agreed to help and the three of them also managed to rope Izuna into it by suggesting that he would need the knowledge if he ever wanted Sakura to establish a link with him too.

"I am nowhere near as powerful as Yagura." Rin said. "Me taking over your body will probably offer you nothing more than a small boost in chakra and some medical ninjutsu."

Sakura opened her mouth, not sure of what she had been going to say, but Rin had cut her off.

"But-" She took a deep breath. "But, I was still a child when I fought in the war. I think I can understand what you will go through during battle. Yagura is probably more than enough to care for you on the battlefield. I can be your emotional support." She took Sakura's hands and smiled. "I'll always be there for you."

Sakura stared at their linked hands for a moment before she nodded slowly. "Okay." She murmured quietly. She nodded. "Okay." She took a deep breath. "Thank you."

Rin's smile widened. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl's shoulders and pressed a light kiss to her forehead. "Any time."

A familiar, comforting warmth spread through her and Sakura did not even have to open her eyes to see the thorn marks growing.

* * *

As promised, Rin joined her in the Academy once every few days. She somehow managed to balance out Rokuro's We're-all-in-this-together-so-I-shall-relay-all-the-test-answers-to-you policy, Yagura's Brat's-should-learn-to-do-things-themselves policy and Izuna's I'll-tell-you-what-I-think-are-the-answers-though-I'm-not-sure-if-they're-correct policy with her Try-first-and-if-you-don't-get-it-then-I-will-teach-you policy.

Funny how no one had thought of that.

Indra appeared a couple of times after that. He never spoke, but he nodded in greeting every time he saw her and after a couple of times, Sakura was able to return it.

She had yet to interact with Asura, and for that, she was grateful.

She could only do this one at a time.

Group work was still limited and so far, Sakura had only had to work with Sasuke once.

That would soon change, though, because Iruka had warned them the previous day that he would be putting them into groups tomorrow to do a short report on the time of Konoha's founding.

Sakura walked into class that morning, dread pooling in her stomach. It wasn't so much the subject, but the fact that she would have to work with others. While it didn't particularly bother her, it was difficult to work with people that shied away from you.

The next day, Iruka had the students stand up began putting students into groups before directing them to sit together at a table.

Kaito was put in a group with the Yamanaka girl and two civilian born boys. Hajime sat down with a civilian born girl and two other boys, one of them being the Inuzuka heir.

Sakura stayed in the shadows until she heard her name being called.

'You're as unlucky as ever, aren't you?' Yagura commented drily.

Sakura looked around and her gaze landed on the table Iruka was pointed at. Uchiha Sasuke, Nara Shikamaru and Hyuuga Hinata stared back at her.

'Come on, Sakura-chan.' Rin smiled sympathetically. 'It can't be _that_ bad.'

'You don't believe that, do you?' Yagura asked.

Rin scowled.

'Come on, Kura-chan!' Izuna called and waved her over. 'Sit here'. He patted on the free seat.

"Sakura?" Iruka asked.

"Ri-right." Sakura moved forward robotically and sat down next to Shikamaru.

Iruka nodded and put the last few people into groups. He then began allocating each group a particular subject. He stopped in front of them, glanced at his noted, then said, "You guys get Senju Tobirama."

Izuna groaned. 'What? Why?'

"Because he said so." Sakura was not in the mood to entertain Izuna.

'Tobirama sucks and everything.' He used his fingers and made a face. 'He always looks like this and it's worse when he smiles.'

'I guess the Uchiha are rude by nature.' Yagura said.

'Hey!' Izuna got into his face. 'In case you missed your history lessons, Senju Tobirama _killed me_.'

'Good for you.' Yagura floated over to Sakura.

'You little-' Izuna placed his hands together and Yagura tensed at the threat. He landed on his feet and his hands moved towards each other.

'That's enough.' Rin said sternly. 'In case you've forgotten, we're at a school and you two are disrupting Sakura-chan's studies with your childish arguing.'

Yagura made an expression similar to a pout and Izuna looked away pointedly.

"Uh, Haruno-san?"

Sakura blinked and turned back to her group. It was Shikamaru that had called her. "Sorry, yes?"

Shikamaru tapped the scroll in front of him, which Sakura could now see was a plan of their report. "Do you have any ideas?" He asked. "So far, all we've got is 'looking into clan archives for records'."

"The Uchiha and the Senju aren't on good terms." Sasuke began slowly. "I think all our records are pretty biased."

'Oh, he speaks.' Yagura muttered.

"I-I think the Hyuuga archives mi-might have something." Hinata said quietly.

"We've met him once, haven't we?" Sakura asked. She ignored the looks her group mates sent her. She wasn't talking to them anyways.

Yagura nodded. 'Once.'

"Do you think he'd be willing to let us ask questions?'

'Don't bother.' Izuna said. 'He'll let you ask, then refuse to answer.'

'Tobirama-sama had an elder brother.' Rin said. 'I remember hearing that Hashirama-sama was much more laid back, character wise.'

'I see the serious younger brother, carefree older brother thing is actually pretty common.' Yagura said. He shot Izuna a look. 'In most cases, anyways.'

Sakura waved her hand to stop the upcoming argument. "Do you know where I can find him?"

'Him? Hashimara?' Izuna asked.

Sakura nodded.

'I've seen him before.' Rin chirped up. 'He always gives a speech on the say the peace treaty between the Senju and the Uchiha were signed.'

'That's half a year away.' Izuna pointed out. He hesitated. 'Nii-sama might know.'

"Can you ask him?" Sakura asked.

'I...guess I could.' Izuna sighed. 'Okay.'

Sakura nodded, then turned back to her group mates. "I can get...primary evidence." She said slowly. "Maybe."

"You could?" Shikamaru asked.

Sakura nodded. "I'll try."

"Okay." To his credit, Shikamaru did not press or ask questions. "We'll leave that to you, then."

"You have another hour!" Iruka called. "Make sure finish allocating jobs by before lunch. You'll have the lesson after break to begin planning."

Sakura turned to Izuna. "Could you go ask now?" She asked.

Izuna sighed. 'Okay then.' He sighed again. 'I'll go buy a fish first.'

'Fish?' Yagura asked.

Izuna nodded and sighed again. 'Nii-sama likes fish. We had this fish pond in the compound. Now, he sits there and watched them. It's all he does these days. That, and going to eat with Hashirama.'

'I thought they were enemies?' Rin asked, eyes wide.

Izuna shrugged. 'Well, they've had a lot of years to talk things through.' He sighed again. 'I buy him fish before I ask him for a favor. The fishpond covers half the compound and nii-sama uses his _Sharingan_ to memorize each and every one of them.' He sighed again. 'He's obsessed.'

He vanished in a puff of smoke.

Yagura burst out laughing and Rin soon followed.

Sakura bit her lip.

'The great Uchiha Madara is obsessed with fish.' Yagura did a back flip in the air. 'That is just-'

'Amazing.' Rin chirped in.

'Too bad we didn't get him.' Yagura took a deep breath. 'I can't wait for the time you learn about the Third Shinobi War.' He said. 'You learn about me, right?'

Sakura nodded. "I think we did."

Yagura hummed thoughtfully. 'I'll be expecting you to correct your classmates if they sprout wrong information.'

'You'll be biased, I bet.' Rin said.

Izuna returned just before lunch break started. 'Nii-sama said he's eating lunch with Hashirama. I can take you there.'

Sakura thought about this. "Okay."

Izuna glance out the window at the sun. 'We'll leave during your lunch break. Is that okay?'

Sakura nodded. "Okay, thanks."

It looks like she'd be taking a nap during lunch.

* * *

 **Here's chapter ten...meh.**

 ** _Darqu_ _e: So they're going to go stalk Tobirama. I like it._**

 **Raven: I'm sure you would.**

 ** _Darque: What does that mean?_**

 **Raven: Nothing.**

 _ **Darque:...**_

 **Raven: Really, nothing.**

 _ **Darque:...Fine.**_

 **Raven: Also, the fish thing is all made up.**

 _ **Darque: And the Madara and Hashirama talking things out is also a lie, made true for the sake of this story.**_

 **Raven: Actually, we have no idea where we are going with this.**

 _ **Darque:...You don't just say thing like that!**_

 **Raven: It's true. So, we'll greatly appreciate suggestions on who you want Sakura to meet and stuff.**

 _ **Darque: Well, actually, yeah, I second that.**_

 **Read and Review~**

* * *

WE ARE LOOKING FOR A STORY...PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW IT.

\- Sasori x Sakura, we think.

\- High school AU

\- They prank someone (Ino?). They knocked her unconscious and dump her in a bathtub full of dye, or something.

\- Sakura says something about not really being friends with Ino and the others, and that they only want to be picked to go on an 'adventure', or something.

PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW/FIND IT!


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter ELEVEN**_

When Sakura blinked her eyes open to the world of red and black, it was Izuna waiting for her. Rin and Yagura were both standing a little behind him and Sakura noted that Rokuro was nowhere to be seen.

"He decided to keep an eye on your body with Kaito-kun." Rin supplied.

Sakura hummed. She carefully took the hand Izuna had playfully offered her and allowed him to lead her down towards wherever he was taking her. Yagura and Rin quickened their pace to walk on either side of them.

They walked through a gate and immediately found themselves in a small tea shop. There was an old lady running the store who greeted them with a kind smile. Izuna waved at her and the woman pointed towards the table at the corner of the store.

Izuna grinned at her and led Sakura over to the table.

"Nii-sama!"

A head poked out from the side of the walls separating the tables. Sakura recognized his face from the Hokage mountain. "Sho-shodai Hokage-sama?"

Izuna grinned at her. "Yup." He said. "Cool, huh?" He bowed a little at the man sitting opposite the smiley Hokage, who was no doubt Izuna's brother. There was a transparent bag with a black koi fish sitting on the table beside him.

"Nii-sama, Hashirama-san, this is Haruno Sakura, the girl I was talking about." Izuna ruffled Sakura's hair. "The weird one over there-" He pointed over his shoulder at a fuming Yagura. "Is Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, and the girl is Nohara Rin."

Senju Hashirama chuckled and waved. Uchiha Madara nodded in greeting.

Izuna smiled down at Sakura and nudged her forward. The First Hokage smiled kindly at her and shuffled to the side and patted the spot beside him. "Sit here, Sakura-chan."

Sakura hesitated.

"He won't bite, I think." Izuna said. He nudged her again.

"Stop, Hashirama." Madara said. "You are scaring the girl. "There was a pause. "Izuna, that is no way to treat a lady."

Izuna's hands immediately left her back. Sakura slowly turned to look at Madara and quickly bowed a little before turning to Hashirama and doing the same, realizing how rude she must be being. "He-Hello." She said. "I'm Haruno Sakura. I am very grateful you decided to accept my request for a meeting..."

Hashirama chuckled and Sakura looked up.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan." He patted the spot beside him again. "I'm willing to share dirt on Tobi anyday."

Sakura managed a smile and sat down.

Izuna grinned and moved to sit beside his brother. Madara sighed but allowed himself to be shoved along the lane.

"Are your friends okay there?" Hashirama turned to look at Yagura and Rin, both whom were lingering in the corridor.

"They're fine." Izuna said.

At the same time, Yagura spoke up. "No, we're not okay, thank you for asking." He marched over, slipped his arms around Sakura, lifted her up, sat down, then plopped her on his lap. "See, Izuna-san." He said. "Rin-san over here doesn't have a seat and there isn't any space here." He leaned his chin on Sakura's head. "Be a gentleman and shuffle along, will you?"

Izuna narrowed his eyes and shot Rin, who was giving him an innocent look, a glance. He sighed and shifted a little and Rin gratefully sat down.

Hashirama chuckled and Sakura caught a hint of amusement in Madara's eyes before it was gone.

"Thank you, Izuna-san." Yagura said.

"Now, Sakura-chan. Izuna-kun here has given me a brief outline on what you are doing." Hashirama grinned. "As long as you include plenty of things about the amazing me, you're free to ask away."

"I'll write, Sakura-chan." Rin pulled out a small note pad and Sakura grinned at her.

"Thanks, Rin-san. So, I was wondering..."

* * *

"-and then he tried to convince me he was okay!" Hashirama exclaimed. "He had this huge hole in his shoulder and he claimed he was fine. When I said 'You have a hole on your shoulder and you're bleeding out', he was like 'You doesn't seem to have noticed-"

Sakura held back the urge to yawn. She settled for rubbing at her eyes, deciding that it wouldn't seem too rude, not with Madara staring at the bag containing his fish in front of him and inspecting the way the light balanced off it's scales, Izuna attempting the number of each spec of salt with his Sharingan, Rin doodling on a separate page of the notebook and Yagura using a chopstick in place of his signature staff to perform miniature water tricks.

"-so I finally managed to get him to wrap the bandages around his shoulder-"

Sakura looked briefly out the window, wondering how much time had passed. The sun was still up high, so even if lunch had ended, it probably wasn't the end of school yet.

She was still on the first question and Hashirama had been talking for at least half an hour. She had asked about Tobirama's signature fighting technique and she had no idea how that talk had morphed into Hashirama and Tobirama's first ever border patrol together, where they had been ambushed by a group of bandits.

"-and that's how the amazing me-sama saved by brother from losing an arm." Hashirama said. "Okay, next question."

Sakura blinked a few times. "O-oh, right, um-"

Madara cut in. "Sakura-san, I believe your lunch break has ended now?"

Yagura nodded, no doubt already tired.

Izuna seemed to agree too and played along as well. He quickly sat up. "Oh, has it? Crap."

Hashirama pouted. "You have to go already?" He asked. "I have so made things I want to say-" He paused. "Actually, I'll come with you."

Sakura blinked and Izuna's eyes widened.

"I'm sorry?" Rin asked, equally surprised.

"I shall go with you." Hashirama grinned. "It's been awhile since I've gone up. It'll be cool." He stood up and spread his arms. "Let's go, Madara?"

Madara raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, Madara." Hashirama whined. "It'll be cool, I promise."

Madara glanced over at Izuna and saw his desperate 'no no no' look. "Sure, of course."

Hashirama's grin widened. Either not noticing or pretending not to notice, though Sakura suspected it to be the former, Izuna's distraught look, Yagura's furrowed eyebrows and Rin's too-blank-to-be-natural expression, Hashirama ushered them out of their seats. "This way, I can tell you more interesting stories." Hashirama said. "You can ask any question you want whenever you want..."

Hashirama's voice echoed throughout the black and red world of the land of the dead.

Yagura nudged Izuna. "Are you telling me he is the 'Shinobi no Kami'?" He whispered. "The oh so famous first ever Hokage?"

"I don't know anymore. I was never really close with him. Nii-sama seemed to enjoy him company, so..." Izuna sighed. "What do you think, Rin-san?"

The girl, obviously too polite to say anything too rude, simple laughed hesitantly. "I have no idea, sorry." She turned to Sakura. "What do you think, Sakura-chan?"

"I don't think I've ever met anyone so tiresome." Sakura admitted.

"Once we're done with this, let's stay away." Yagura suggested.

"It might have been better if we risked asking Tobirama instead." Izuna sighed.

Sakura paused. "Right. We were here to ask about _Tobirama-sama_."

"We were." Yagura confirmed. "Though I can hardly blame you for forgetting."

Izuna pointed. "Oh, look, our torii." He nudged them to quicken their pace. "Let's hope we can ditch them."

* * *

 **So, there was a 'Guest' review and since, like you said, you don't have an account, we'll answer your question here, yes?  
**

 **This story wasn't inspired by Sousei no Onmyouji.**

 **Darque had been following that anime since the first chapter was released on a magazine (She loves it) but the terminology used is pretty much the norm for onmyouji stuff.**

 **Yeah...**

 **Meh.**

* * *

 **So, Hashirama turned out to not be what they had pictured him to be like.**

 **Raven: We don't really know what Hashirama is like, so he might be OOC...also Madara...**

 _ **Darque: But like Izuna said maybe one or two chapters ago, both of them have had lots of time to think about things.**_

 **Raven: So we blame their OOCness on the passing time. After all, time cannot be stopped.**

 _ **Darque: Yup.**_

 **Read and Review~**


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter TWELVE**_

Sakura jolted awake with a gasp.

Everyone immediately turned to her and Hajime, who had been standing in the corridor beside her like it was nothing, smiled at her. "Welcome back, Sakura-sama." She said. Rokuro wriggled his fingers in greeting.

Sakura glanced around and noted that everyone was looking at them. Class had most definitely started. "I'm...back" She smiled at Hajime. "Thank you."

'Hey! I'm here too!' Rokuro exclaimed.

Sakura grinned. "Thanks, Rokuro."

She saw a few of her classmates flinch.

'They never get used to it, do they?' Izuna appeared in a puff of smoke and sat himself down on the table in front of Sasuke. Rin and Yagura soon followed, both of them opting to hover over Sakura's shoulders.

"Are you awake now, Sakura?" Iruka called from the front. There were a few uneasy laughs from her classmates.

Sakura stood up and nodded. "I apologize, Iruka-sensei." She said. "I hadn't expected for it to take so long-"

'SAKURA-CHAN!'

Sakura yelped and covered her ears. Her surprise knocked her feet from underneath her and she landed heavily on her seat. Hashirama grinned cheekily and leaned in over her.

'Hashirama! This is a school.' Madara said. 'Please conduct yourself accordingly.'

'Pshh.' Hashirama waved his hand dismissively.

Madara sighed. 'Hashirama.'

Said Senju hummed and flew over to the window. 'Whoa.' He hummed thoughtfully. 'This is a lot different to what I expected. Give me a tour later, Sakura-chan~'

Hajime let out a growl. "You!" She said. She pointed accusingly at the first Hokage. "Who are you!"

Hashirama turned around curiously. 'You can see me too?'

"I'm a Haruno." Hajime said. "You look familiar, but I don't know who you are." She said. "So who are you?"

Hashirama looked pained. 'Oh, youngsters these days.'

Hajime fumed. Sakura reached out and tapped her cousin. "Believe it or not, that's Shodai-Hokage-sama." She whispered. "And the one next to him is Uchiha Madara."

Hajime's eyes widened. "Sakura-sama?"

Sakura hummed.

"Why can you not pick up _ordinary_ spirits?" She looked over her ragtag group of spirits for good measure.

Sakura chuckled nervously. "I have no idea."

* * *

Somehow, Iruka managed to get the class to calm down and Madara managed to get Hashirama to stop fussing.

"So, um, how was it?"

Sakura turned to Shikamaru and it took her a few seconds to figure out what he had been asking.

"Tiring." She said.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

Sakura whimpered and buried her head in her arms. "I-"

'SAKURA-CHAN!'

"Made the worst mistake of my life." She whispered. "I should have gone straight to Nidaime Hokage-sama."

"You didn't?" Shikamaru asked. "Who did you find, then?"

"Shodai Hokage-sama."

"You mean Senju Hashirama?" Sasuke asked curiously.

Hashirama appeared in front of them in a flash. 'You called, little boy?' He asked.

"He can't see you, or hear you." Sakura told him.

Hashirama pouted. 'Pity.'

"And yes, I did mean Senju Hashirama."

"He-He's here?" Hinata asked.

Sakura nodded and pointed. "Right there." She glanced at Sasuke. "And there's Uchiha Madara-" Sasuke tensed. "Right there." She pointed out the spot beside Hashirama. "And Izuna is there." She moved her finger in the direction of Izuna, who was still sitting on the table. "There's-" She paused, remembered the _slight_ sissue regarding the presence of the Fourth Mizukage, "some others there." She finished.

That seemed to be enough to impress her groupmates, though. Shikamaru blinked at her. "Whoa." He said.

'Sakura-chan, when does class end? You need to show me around.' Hashirama chirped.

'In a while.' Rin said calmly. 'So why don't we let Sakura-chan work for the moment?'

Hashirama simply chucked and slapped Rin's shoulder. 'That is not a bad idea.' He floated away and began reading the things Iruka had written on the board.

'Sakura-san.'

Sakura turned to Madara. "Yes?"

'He is an Uchiha, is he not?' He pointed at Sasuke.

"He is." She replied. "Second son of the clan head, I think."

Sasuke turned to her, eyes narrowed just a little.

Madara hummed. 'I believe I will visit the compound today.' He said.

Izuna sat up. 'I'll go too!'

Yagura turned to Izuna. 'Hang on! This is your fault; you can't just run.'

Madara turned to his brother. 'Izuna, have you been causing trouble?'

Izuna tensed. 'Uh, no, I don't-'

Sakura looked away politely when Madara began giving Izuna a scolding. She caught Yagura smirking triumphantly and sighed.

"So, is your place available today?"

Sakura turned back to her group mates when she heard Sasuke's annoyed voice. "I'm sorry?"

"My father would flip if I went to the Hyuuga compound and I doubt Hinata will be welcome at my place. We'll be going to either your place or Shikamaru's place to finish this thing." Sasuke sighed. "We're you even listening?"

Sakura clicked her tongue. "I wasn't, sorry."

"At least you don't pretend to have been listening." Sasuke crossed his arms. "So? Can we go to your place?"

Sakura shrugged. "Why not Shikamaru-san's place?" She asked, out of curiosity.

"Because my mother is troublesome." Shikamaru said.

Sakura hummed. "I'm sure you can come over." She said. "Just wait a sec." She looked around and saw Rin trying to calm down an arguing Yagura and Izuna while Madara pretended not to notice anything. "Rin." She called.

The girl looked up and shot Sakura an exasperated sigh. 'These two are so troublesome.'

Sakura grinned. "Just leave them." She waved her over. "Could you please go tell my parents that my group mates will be coming over?" She asked.

Rin grinned. 'Sure.' She nudged her and though her elbow went through Sakura's ribs, she got what she was trying to do. 'Why don't you just say 'friends', hm?'

"Because we aren't."

Rin sighed. 'Sakura-chan...' She smiled when Sakura shot her a glare. 'Okay, right, not friends.'

Sakura huffed.

'I'll be off, then.' Rin vanished in a puff of smoke.

Sakura turned over to her group mates and nodded. "It's fine."

"Then it's decided." Sasuke said.

Sakura hummed and ducked out of instinct when a spirit kunai flew over her head. "Seriously..." She waved her hand when Hinata turned to her curiously. "No, not you guys. I-"

Izuna leaped at Yagura, who had been hovering behind her. The Uchiha stomped right through Shikamaru's lap to push himself over the table and Sakura looked away, because it wasn't a pleasant sight. "Can you guys not?" She asked.

'Yeah. Can you guys not?' Hashirama landed beside her and wagged his finger at the fighting two. 'We're at a school.'

'Shut up, tree-man.' Yagura scoffed.

'Stay out of this.' Izuna said. 'This is a fight between men.'

'I _am_ a man.' Hashirama whined.

'I wouldn't have guessed.' Izuna muttered, clearly intending to be heard.

Hashirama's pout deepened and he made a hand sigh. 'I'll show-'

Sakura slammed her hands onto the table and stood up. "Actually, you all leave."

Hashirama turned to her, horror in her eyes. 'What? But, Sakura-chan-'

"Nope, leave." She pointed towards the door, then the window, then just simply waved her arms. "I don't care from where. Just leave and don't come back until I've finished class."

'The idiot started it.' Yagura said hotly.

'It was you!' Izuna retorted.

'I haven't done anything!' Hashirama exclaimed.

'You threatened to grow a tree in the middle of the classroom.' Yagura said.

'I threatened to.' Hashirama retorted. 'But I didn't.'

'You would have, if Kura-chan hadn't stopped you.' Izuna said.

Sakura growled and stiffly reached over the table towards Shikamaru and plucked his brush off its holder. She moved the scroll on their table to the side and began furiously drawing lines into the wood.

'Uh, Kura-chan, what are you-'

"Harae Tamae, Kiyome Tamae, Kyuu Kyuu Nyoritsu Ryou!"

With screams of horror and threats promising revenge, Yagura, Izuna and Hashirama were pulled in through the gates of the Land of the Dead.

She clapped her hands together when the doors snapped shut, satisfied.

'Am I allowed to remain here, Sakura-san?'

Sakura turned to look at Madara, who had smartly moved out of range when she had first began drawing the seals.

"Of course, Madara-san." Sakura smiled. She noticed Sasuke's eyes snap towards her and she simply ignored him. "Don't worry about the others. I'm sure they'll find their way back in a few hours."

Madara scoffed and Sakura noted that this was the first not-so-formal thing he had done. 'They deserved it.' He said.

* * *

 **So, yeah. After this project thing, we'll probably skip a few years and stuff...or will we?**

 **Raven: So, dear readers, I bring to you updates on Darque and her latest obsession! (Read with a sarcastic tone)**

 _ **Darque: I LIKE TRAINS~!**_

 **Raven: She likes the I like trains kid. She says it was 'Love at first sight'.**

 _ **Darque I LIKE TRAINS~!**_

 **Raven: And that she wished she could summon trains to run over people too.**

 _ **Darque: I LIKE TRAINS~!**_

 **Raven: I gotta say, the movies and stuff are cool. Search up 'ASDF' or 'TomSka's channel on you tube if curious. If you already know it, tell me a way to get Darque to stop.**

 _ **Darque: MINE TURTLE!** **BOOM!**_

 **Read and Review~**


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chaper THIRTEEN**_

The moment class ended, Sakura led her groupmates out of the room.

Hajime and Kaito both had a meeting with their own groups and they agreed to meet up at the compound later. Madara wordlessly stood up from where he had been perched on the teacher's desk and followed along at the back.

As kind of expected, Yagura was the first to break through the pulls of the other world. A gaping hole of nothing suddenly opened up behind Hinata, absorbing and spitting out at the same time. Sakura clearly felt the pull so to see nothing around her being affected by the tremendous ball of energy was disturbing. The Fourth Mizukage tumbled out, spitting and cursing at the black and red chain like things that tried to hold him back. They almost looked like they were made of clouds, Sakura noted, and it was funny to see such a renowned figure fighting against such fluffy looking things. With a guttural, almost inhuman snarl, Yagura kicked off the last of the chains. The restraints slipped back through the gates, which then shut with as much ferociously as it had when it had opened.

'Damn those fluffy things.' Yagura straightened his clothes and fixed his appearance as he pulled together the shredded bits of his dignity.

"Welcome back." Sakura said nonchalantly. "Where have you been?"

'Oh, no where much.' Yagura said. He ran his hand through his hair. 'Have you ever had clouds trying to strangle you?'

Sakura placed a finger on her lip and let out a thoughtful hum. "Um...No, I can't say I have."

Yagura smoothed out his sleeves. 'I see. Well, I guess I can't blame you since I've never experienced it while I was alive.' He tapped his sandals against a surface only he could see. 'Let me tell you, it feels absolutely amazing.' He ignored Sakura's skeptical look. 'It's like drowning in air, as though you have so much air shoved into your lungs that you end up choking on it. It's not a bad kind of choking, but you're still choking.'

"So it's like choking." Sakura said slowly. "And drowning."

'On air.'

"Er, right. On air." Sakura didn't even feel offended when her groupmates shied away a little, funny looks on their faces.

'So, where are your subordinates?' Yagura asked. He poked a finger through Hinata's pupil less eyes and smirked when she blinked a few times.

"Hajime has a group meeting at the park and Kaito went over to the Yamanaka compound, also for a gathering." She watched Hinata finally give in to the urge to rub her eyes and sighed. "Stop it."

Hinata jumped and Sakura quickly waved her hands. "No, sorry, not you." She shot Yagura a pointed look. The Fourth Mizukage pointed at himself and rolled his eyes. 'It's not like I'm damaging her eyes or anything.' He said indignantly. 'And while I've heard of them, I've never actually seen them.'

"Damaging or not, is clear they feel something." She didn't even block when Yagura stuck an arm through her and waved. "Something I can no longer feel. Maybe I got used to it."

'Maybe.' Yagura agreed, albeit half heartedly. He floated over to Madara, who had been quiet until then, and curiously waved a hand in front of his face. Sakura, unwilling to deal with the mess sure to come, turned away. "Come on." She called. " We're almost there."

* * *

Yagura and Madara soon departed to look for Izuna and Hashirama, who were taking an awfully long time to return.

It was Asahi that greeted them at the gates. He bowed respectfully at Sakura then greeted her groupmates with polite smiles. Sakura smiled at her clanmate then led led her groupmates directly towards her room.

"Ha-Haruno-san, shouldn't we go greet yo-your pa-parents?" Hinata stuttered out quietly.

Sakura paused in the middle of sliding her door open. "They're busy today." She said. "Yachiyo-san and Michiru-san complained about their room being drafty and they felt the need to organize a clan meeting about getting it fixed."

'Those old hags, it's not like they feel it. They just take pleasure from arguing with people.' A voice chirped. 'When they're right, they're right and when they're wrong, they're still somehow also right.'

"Yes, thank you." Sakura waved her hand with a roll of her eyes and Kenji, one of her cousins a few years older than her, snickered before he floated away.

"Anyways, please come in, make yourselves at home." She held the door open. "Would you like anything to drink? Or something to eat?"

'Of course they do. Children always do. All youngsters think about these days is food and money.' A male voice called out.

'And sex.' A female one added. 'Oh, hi Sakura-chan-sama.'

'Kurumi-chan!'

Sakura turned towards the door, which was still open, and caught sight of Kurumi and her husband, Atsushi, a married couple who had died in their early thirties during the Kyuubi attack.

'And we're not _that_ old.' Kurumi continued, hands on her hips. 'I'll pound your face in and show you just how young I am.'

'Of course not.' Atsushi agreed weakly. 'I already know. You don't need to punch me to prove it.'

Kurumi smiled sweetly then turned to Sakura. 'So, Sakura-chan-sama, I'll go ask Yurika-chan to bring you something. What'd you say?'

"Yes please." Sakura replied. "Thank you."

Kurumi shrugged. 'If I could, I'd bring it to you myself.' She waved her hands. 'I sometimes wish I had hands that worked.' She glanced at her groupmates, who were taking turns looking at Sakura, then where she was looking, and pointed at Sasuke. 'Nice catch.'

"Huh?" Sakura blinked.

Kurumi laughed and waved before she quickly floated off.

'Ku-Kurumi-chan!' Atsushi bowed quickly in her direction before he rushed after her, calling her name.

Sakura sighed and gestured towards Shikamaru. "Close the door, please." The Nara did as asked. "Please ignore my-" Sakura paused. "Wait, never mind."

They stood there for a while, wrapped in an uncomfortable silence. Finally, Sasuke sat down with a grunt and they all quickly followed.

"So...what are going to do?" Sakura asked.

Shikamaru reached into his bag and pulled out their scroll of notes. "We have to give a verbal report on Nidaime-sama in two days time." He said. "We should decide who says what and maybe a broad outline of a script."

"But to do that, we need the actual information." Sasuke shot Sakura a pointed look. "Do you have anything?"

Sakura winces. "Sorry. Hashirama-sama is kind of lost at the moment and I need to wait for him to come back." She said. "Can I see what we have already?"

"He's lost?" Shikamaru asked. "Actually, never mind." He handed over the scroll.

Sakura took it and read through it, noting that they had all the most well known facts noted down. "Apparently, Tobirama-sama had a hole blown into his shoulder on his very first border patrol."

"Huh?" Sasuke made a face.

Sakura shrugged and plastered on a fake offended look. "That's what Hashirama-sama told me." She opened her mouth to continue when something caught her eye. "Hang on."

The gate to the Yomi no Kuni shimmered to existence behind Sasuke. Something that looked like a root of a large tree shot out and attached itself to one of her walls. Sakura gasped out of instinct and ducked when a second one flew over her head.

The lack of flying splinters when it hit her wall pulled her out of her state of panic but that did not make her feel any better. "Hey! What-"

She heard a scream that made her blood curl and a second later, Yagura stepped out with a smug look on his face. Madara was right behind him and the two of them smoothed out their clothes like there wasn't someone screaming bloody murder right behind them.

A hand appeared from the black fluff and another root shot out from its palm. Hashirama used it to pull himself out from the smoke, eyes wide. He fell onto the ground and the momentum sent him rolling into the wall. There was another scream and Izuna stuck his face out from the fluff. 'Nii-sama!'

Madara looked his his brother dismissively. 'Oh, hello, Izuna.'

'Please Nii-sama! Oh god-' He tugged harshly at the clouds and reached out a hand. 'Kura-chan., help me.'

Sakura took a step back. "I can't."

'Wha-' Izuna huffed and yanked his other arm out. 'Why not-'

"Because, in case you've forgotten, we can't touch." Sakura swung her arm up and Yagura looked down at her, unimpressed, when her arm went through his torso. "They'll loosen in another few hours." She offered sympathetically.

'Look, the clouds are calling.' Yagura stepped forward, a evil smirk on his face. 'Be a good boy and come back later.' He planted a foot on Izuna's face and kicked him.

Izuna's Sharingan blazed alive and the last thing Sakura saw was the Uchiha's horrified face before the clouds sucked him back in.

"I am just...so disappointed in you guys." Sakura flung her arms up. "Like, I don't even know."

Hashirama let out an amused huff. 'Well Sakura-chan, now that's I'm back, I'll give you a few more bits and pieces on Tobi-dear.'

Sakura winced.

'I don't pity Izuna that much.' Yagura murmured. 'Those clouds are fluffy and pretty nice if you don't fight against it.'

* * *

 **So, chapter thirteen here~**

 ** _Darque: Sorry about all the confusion before. We've fixed most of it, though._**

 **Raven: If you find something weird, please do tell us.**

 ** _Darque: Like you face?_**

 **Raven: And what's gotten you in a bad mood?**

 ** _Darque: Your face._**

 **Raven:...What is your problem with my face?**

 ** _Darque: You should hit your head on the corner of tofu and die._**

 **Raven:...What?**

 ** _Darque:_**

 **Raven: No longer here...What is her problem?**

 ** _Darque:_**

 **Raven: The thing is, I've done so many things that might have annoyed her that I don't even know.**

 ** _Darque:_**

 **Raven: Meh...Bye~**

 **Read and Review!**

* * *

 **(In case you missed the author's note)**

 **We've just made a few (Kinda major) changes to several of the previous chapters.**

 **It'll be easier if you reread the whole thing but if you're not bothered, the most important bit thing is the part we added at the beginning of the third chapter.**

 **If you are REALLY not bothered, we have written down what kind of changes we made, so just read that.**

 **IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS OF THE EDITED BITS, DO NOT READ ANY MORE.**

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 **.**

 **LIST OF CHANGES**

 **Edits in grammar, punctuation and other stuff.**

 **-We read through the previous chapters and fixed the things we found, though we kinda drifted away by the last few chapters, so there may still be errors left.**

 **Previously, Yagura was dead-dead, but now, he is kinda dead.**

 **-There are no changes in his character appearances, but because in Canon, Yagura died shortly before the Konoha-Suna joint Chunin exams, there is still a 'Yagura' running around in Kiri. (This is for plot and will be fully explained later on in the story)**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chapter FOURTEEN**_

In the end, they somehow managed to put together their information. Since it was getting late, they agreed to work on the script at school tomorrow. Sakura turned towards her groupmates, who had finished putting on their sandals. "Sorry, but I really don't going outside at night." She handed Hinata's bag to her. "It's like walking in jelly." She shivered. "And I don't really like being pierced, though it doesn't hurt. It just feels weird."

Night time was when the more vengeful ghosts liked to wander and some had been mentally damaged beyond repair during one of the wars.

"It-It's fine, Sa-Sakura-san." Hinata said. "It's not that la-late."

"And we're within the village walls." Sasuke said.

Sakura hums. "Just in case, I'll send someone with you." Before anyone would react, she looked over her shoulder and gestured towards the spirits lingering by the corridor.

"Do you guys mind?"

Rin, who had been dragged into a game of hide and seek and had just managed to slip away, was the first smile. "Of course not."

"Hn." Sakura took that as agreement from Madara and turned to Hashirama, who pouted.

Madara decided to accompany Sasuke to the Uchiha compound. Rin agreed to take Hinata and Hashirama, after a little coaxing on who exactly was giving him a chance to share 'Tobi-dear's' secrets to the world agreed to accompany Shikamaru.

'It's not like you're going to loose anything.' Yagura said dismissively.

Madara nodded. 'This will allow me to look over the Uchiha compound.' He said.

'I've never been into the Hyuuga compound.' Rin said, equally agreeable.

Hashirama groaned. 'I shall bare this, for the sake of the Tobi project and cute little Sakura-chan.' He then looked at Yagura. 'Why doesn't he have to do anything?'

'Because Sakura enjoys my company over yours.' Yagura replied, channeling his newly discovered inner Madara.

Hashirama pouted and turned to Sakura. 'Sakura-chan, is this true?'

Sakura shuffled back uneasily. "Well, I-"

'Stop pressuring her.' Yagura said. 'If something were to happen, while we can't touch with the living world, I'm sure it'll give the children a chance to escape if you pierce them through.' He smacked Sasuke and while his hand went through his head, Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, frowning.

'So they feel _something_.' Hashirama hummed, intrigued. 'Very well. I'll accept this job.'

'Good boy.'

Sakura turned away from the bickering spirits and smiled. "There, all settled." She paused, remembering something. "Don't worry, they can't bite." She grinned. "If something does happen, though, I'm sure they'll be useful."

No one looked comfortable with the thought that a spirit of a dead person was following them home but none of them complained either.

Sakura tapped her arm thoughtfully. "Madara-san is taking you home, Sasuke-san." She said. Sasuke's eyes flew up to hers and she grinned wider. "So really, nothing to worry about." She pointed at Shikamaru. "You get Shodai-sama." Shikamaru began coughing violently. "And you, Hinata-san, get Rin." She smiled. "She's probably the most _normal_ or everyone I-" Out of instinct, she ducked to avoid the kunai Yagura threw at her. "Know."

With a cheery smile, she sent them on their merry way.

Once he had returned, Kaito dragged of a confused Hashirama and Sakura remembered that her cousin's allocated figure had been the first Hokage. Feeling slightly bad for stealing him off when he probably needed the man more than she did, she instituted Hashirama to answer all of Kaito's questions before she retired to her room.

She had Rin and Rokuro around with note pads with her script on it but it wouldn't hurt to go through it a few times.

* * *

The next day, Sakura walked into the classroom, surrounded by her clanmates as usual. They got the whole day, apart from break and lunch, to finalize on their presentations. Sakura took most of their script with strides while Rin wrote down what she was to say on a spiritual piece of paper.

Their group ran through the full presentation a few times and by the end of the day, they were pleased with the outcome.

With promises to go through the script a few more times at home, they split.

* * *

The next day, Sakura was greeted with a rush of excitement as the groups ran around to make last second preparations. This would be their first ever presentation in front of the whole class and everyone was pretty excited about it.

Iruke moved to sit at the back so that he could see everything before he began calling people up one by one.

The first one to go up was the group doing Hashirama. The First Hokage was ecstatic at the thought and he did a few flips before he settled himself on the table beside Sakura. The grouped mostly went over things known by the wide population, things like Hashirama's rise to clan heir at a young age and his close relationship with his brother. Hashirama made a face at that.

They also covered Hashirama's rare Kekkei Genkai, the Mokuton and his prowess in battle. Kaito even went into a few accounts of Hashirama's fights, sourcing it back to the First himself. However, Hashirama was not impressed. "I was so much more cooler than that." He complained. "I can grow _trees_." He grinned. "Every room in the compound had a small potted version of my plant. I like mushroom soup. I also like bonsai and wood sculpting. My dream is to beat up Madara-"

The Uchiha whacked him, hard.

From across the room, Kaito shot the man a blank stare and tilted his head, thinking. "Should I?" He mouthed.

'You so should!' Rokuro exclaimed. 'Tell the world that this dude is not as cool as people say.' He quickly positioned himself behind Rin, who scowled at the Hokage who had been about to give the boy a flick on the forehead.

'Hitting children?' Yagura drawled. 'Not very Kage-like.'

'Yes, and I'm sure you'll know all about being Kage-like.' Izuna muttered. 'Though I have to agree.'

Yagura let out a mock gasp and placed a hand on his chest. 'In case you've forgotten, that is-was me but not me. _I'm dead but not dead_.'

His words instantly destroyed the cheery atmosphere.

'Are you sure you don't want to look into it?' Izuna asked.

"We are to simply observe" Sakura said, almost as though she was simply repeating a phrase that had been engraved into her so long ago that she didn't even think as the words flowed. "We are the bridge that connects the dead to the living. We receive information and store it for times of need. That is our job."

Hashirama sighed and dropped his gaze. 'Look at all this serious talk' He murmured. 'I completely missed Kaito-kun concluding his presentation.

True enough, when Sakura looked up, it was to see the group who had been assigned Madara walking up to the front of the class.

Hashirama grinned. 'Let's see what kind of dirt they managed to pick up on you, Mada-chan.'

* * *

 **WARNING: WOZ RUSHED.**

 ** _Darque:_ _Sorry about the slight delay. I was caught up with other stuff._**

 **Raven: Darque's getting back into her bad habits of playing games all day.**

 _ **Darque: Not bad.**_

 **Raven: Uh...right. Anyways, and she finally managed to pull her head out of the gutter and write this.**

 _ **Darque: My head is never in the gutter.**_

 **Raven: Right, I forgot. Darque finally managed to pull her head out of the core of the Earth and write this.**

 _ **Darque: Oh! That sounds cool! What's a core?**_

 **Raven:...**

 _ **Darque: Huh. Google define, here I come~**_

 **Raven: Is there anything further down than the core? Cause that's where her brain usually is. Maybe somewhere in America. She shoved her head so deep into the ground that she popped out on the other side.**

 **Read and Review~**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Chapter FIFTEEN**_

The group who had been assigned Madara was a group made up of three civilians and a shy boy from a family who had released three shinobi in the last ten generations.

Hashirama eagerly listened as the group talked about Madara's history and skills with clear admiration in their eyes.

They clearly did not know into depth the true story surrounding Madara and Konohagakure.

"He was also said to be the figure who came up with the name 'Konohagakure no Sato'." One of them said enthusiastically.

Hashirama pouted. "Ah, right. I had forgotten all about that. I still think my name was better. What do you think, Rin-chan? Konohagakure or..."

However, Madara simply stood there, eyes closed and arms closed. "It was nothing glorified like that." He said quietly.

Sakura, who appeared to be the only one to have heard, turned to him curiously.

"I was blinded by hatred. I turned on my clan, on my village. I am not the hero they make me out to be."

Sakura simply watched him, unsure of what to say. Madara slowly looked up and met Sakura's eyes. "I do not know what is more unfortunate. Growing up being told only lies or living knowing that you are the only one who knows the truth."

Sakura had a feeling Madara was not talking about the presentations anymore.

Beside them, Hashirama let out a laugh. "Oh, this priceless." He turned to his best friend, still grinning. "Hey Madara, did you hear that? They're talking about the sinkhole accident."

Sakura turned out the first Hokage, intently watching Madara. The Uchiha nodded at her once before turning back to Hashirama, not a single sign that for a moment, he had lost of composure. "As expected of you, Hashirama. Have you forgotten the fact that it was _you_ who ended up spending the night in the skin hole?"

Hashirama spluttered and his mouth fell open in embarrassment. Izuna did not miss the chance to embarrass the First and eagerly stuck his head into their conversation. "What's this?"

Madara began retelling whatever story there was to tell and Sakura turned back to the front of watch the group wrap up on their speech.

* * *

The presentation on Izuna was less glorified to the one on Madara, but everyone still seemed fascinated. Hajime looked like she had plenty to say about the pedophile creep who hung around Sakura but she held her tongue, instead settling to throwing random, subtle insults in her parts.

Izuna kept muttering but he did not act out, probably because of Madara's tight grip on his wrist.

One of Hajime's groupmates concluded their presentation with a bright smile. Sakura watched in amusement as her cousin shot Izuna one more murderous glare before she stormed back to her seat beside Kaito. She began muttering insults and threats to Izuna into her brother's ear.

Sakura was sure that the only thing truly keeping the young Uchiha from flying at her cousin was Madara's murderous glare digging into the back of his head.

Dead or not, Madara still had clan pride to uphold.

* * *

"Next, we'll have Tobirama-sama's group."

Sakura looked up at the name and she sighed. She had a feeling this would not go well. She just knew it. With a sigh, Sakura and her group mates moved to the front of the class.

Iruka gave them a nod and Sasuke started them off with a brief 'as you probably know'. Sakura fiddled with her fingers, feeling Izuna's gleeful look boring holes into her back and Hashirama's evil chucking grating at her ears.

They were having way too much fun.

Shikamaru gave her a nudge at the exactly same moment Rin held up her notebook. "Uh, right." She frowned at the page for a second and Rin giggled before raising it so that it looked as though Sakura was looking directly at her classmates. Keeping in mind all that Hashirama had taught her about giving speeches and spoke her part like a natural. By the end of it, Hashirama was clapping, a proud mother hen look on his face. Izuna, however, did not look pleased.

'What happened to all the bad things I told you about him?' He asked. 'He's so slow and stupid.' He made a face. 'And he is so annoying. He-' Izuna was abruptly cut short. He blinked, then slowly looked down. Sakura followed his line of gaze and froze.

There was a kunai stabbed through his chest, it's tip jutting out of a hole it had no doubt torn in the Uchiha's shirt.

Sakura could not help herself. "Oh gods." She hastily stumbled back, eyes wide and breathing erratic. She knocked into Shikamaru, who managed to keep both him and her from tumbling onto the floor.

'I thought you had run, only to find out you are happily playing 'school'.' A low voice growled.

Izuna grunted when the kunai was roughly pulled out. Black smoke began to seep out from the wound. 'You...bastard...' The younger Uchiha snarled through gritted teeth, before he vanished in a swirl of black.

Sakura tensed further when she caught sight of who exactly had sent Izuna back to the Yomi no Kuni.

'Tobirama!' Hashirama rushed over to his brother, frowning. 'What was that for?'

Madara did not say anything. Instead, he simply eyed the younger Senju.

'Just a grudge.' Tobirama said nonchalantly. 'Nothing you should concern yourself over.' He eyed the students sitting down, looking confused, then turned to the group standing up at the front. 'And what is this?'

'A presentation on you, brother!' Hashirama clearly did not notice Tobirama's sour mood. 'Sakura-chan here-'

'The girl with the Fourth Mizukage.' Tobirama nodded at her. Sakura stiffened even more and quickly nodded back before she glanced away. Tobirama turned back to his brother. 'So is this where you have been happily vanishing off to for the past few days?'

Hashirama nodded. 'It's been awhile since I came up to look at things and so far, I haven't regretted it.' he slung an arm over Tobirama's shoulder. 'You should stay too. I'm sure Sakura-chan wouldn't mind.'

"You okay?"

Sakura blinked and suddenly realizing that she was still leaning on Shikamaru, she quickly straightened. "Ah, yes, sorry about that." She swallowed. "It's just that, uh, just now."

She closed her eyes for a second but had to open them again because images of Izuna exploding flew before her eyes. She bit her lip, hard, then shook her head.

No, she could do this.

She had spent her whole life being haunted by spirits of the dead, all of them a screw loose in one way or another.

She could deal with another one.

* * *

 **So, chapter fifteen here~**

 **Another crazy one joined the gang~**

 **So, next chapter is here.**

 _ **Darque: Baseball season is over. I'm so sad.**_

 **Raven: Another long wait until March.**

 _ **Sigh.**_

 ** _Darque: I really don't like the new coach, though._**

 **Raven: Well, I doubt he'll be leaving anytime soon.**

 _ **Darque: He's so, ugh.**_

 **Raven: I have to agree. He is ugh.**

 _ **Darque: See why we're friends?**_

 **Raven: I do.**

 **Read and Review~**


	16. Chapter 16

_**Chapter SIXTEEN**_

Sakura somehow managed to finish her part of the presentation without stumbling all over her words. Tobirama's glare bore holes into the back of her head, judging every syllable that came out of her mouth.

Her groupmate seemed to notice something was wrong but they waited until they had finished and were seated again before questioning her.

"Tobirama-sama appeared out of nowhere and chopped up Izuna." She stole them, deadpanned.

Sasuke openly gaped at her while Hinata looked like she was going to faint. Shikamaru looked pretty interested, though, and Sakura hoped he wouldn't say anything that would make the Nidaime Hokage angry at her more than he currently seemed.

Sakura spent the rest of the day with a wary eye on Tobirama. Sure, it was not like Tobirama could do anything to her, but she thought it was pretty justified to be cautious of people whose form of greeting seemed to be a kunai through the chest.

She could hear Izuna's distant howling but he was nowhere near able to pull himself back together again, and he probably would not be back for another few hours.

Yagura seemed to notice her unease and firmly planted himself between her and the younger Senju, spinning his choice of weapon, his staff, casually around.

Tobirama himself did not seem too fond of the Mizukage and subtly shot glares at him from his place behind Hashirama, who, as usual, did not seem to notice anything.

The moment class ended, Sakura prepared to bolt. She later felt bad for ditching her clanmates, who called out after her, but Sakura really need to get away.

'Sakura-chan!' Hashirama called, but Sakura shot one glance at Tobirama and quickly rushed off. 'Wait Sakura-chan, Tobi won't bite. I promise.'

Sakura hesitated and glanced up to meet Tobirama's glaring red gaze. "He looks like he will." She mumbled.

Hashirama sighed and gave Tobirama a whack that was probably much harder than it looked. 'Oh Tobi, you're scaring the girl! Don't gare so much. This is why you aren't married yet.'

'We can return to the compound.' Yagura suggested, loud enough to be heard. 'You can cast a blocking seal to deny 'Tobi' entry.'

Tobirama turned his glare from Hashirama to Yagura, who challengingly me this gaze with a chilling one of his own.

' _That is a very good idea~!'_

Sakura clamped her hands ove rher ears to block out Izuna's pained and gleeful agreement that came from the distant somewhere; it appeared as though he was pulling himself together faster that she had thought.

'And you call yourselves shinobi? Pitiful.'

Sakura let out a loud gasp and jumped in surprise. She stumbled forward and stepped behind Yagura, who had tightened his grip on his weapon, looking tense.

Sasuke stood at the mouth of their row of seats, looking wary, and a few feet in front of him, hovered Indra, a look of contempt in his eyes.

Hashirama's smile dropped from his face and Rin floated over closer to Sakura, a hand worriedly clutching her clothes.

From the corner of her eye, Sakura caught sight of Naruto and, in turn, Ashura making their way over as well.

'What are you implying?' Madara asked, tone harsh.

Indra scoffed. 'You display such pettiness and claim to be shinobi.' He said. 'I had thought these few generations were losing sight of what a shinobi truly is, but it appears as though this issue had bared root many years ago.'

Tobirama stepped up beside his brother, eyes narrowed. Indra's dark eyes seemed to lighten just a little and he took a single threatening step forward.

There was a surge of chakra that knocked Sakura's feet from under her. Her knees gave way and she collapsed onto the floor, hand clutching at her chest, the sudden show of power having knocked the air from her lungs.

'Sakura.' Yagura crouched down beside her, eyes wide with anger.

"I-I'm fine." Sakura let out a few dry coughs.

She felt the cold air of ghostly hands hovering over her and Yagura looked into her eyes, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. 'Give me a second.'

Sakura felt a sting in her wrist and a second later, a pale blue bubble appeared around her. Instantly, the weight of the chakra lessened and when Sakura stood up, the bubble shifter to keep her cocooned. Yagura stepped up beside her, glowing blue as well. 'My chakra should be enough to neutralize the weight.' He explained. 'It's almost like a partial overtake.'

Indra immediately noticed and eyed her for a few seconds before he huffed and withdrew his chakra.

Yagura quickly lowered his own shielding chakra. He fingered his staff before he spun around, his weapon held at neck point of a new arrival.

Madara's sharingan was blazing and Hashirama was cautiously running a hand over the wooden desk. A second later, she realized that it was not her or Yagura's chakra defence that had stopped Indura, but Ashura's sudden presence directly behind her.

'Brother.' Ashura's greeting was clear and Sakura realized that it was her first time hearing the younger brother speak.

'Ashura.' Indra's stance did not relax in the slightest and in fact, seemed to stiffen even more.

'Are you causing trouble again, brother?'

Indra narrowed his eyes. 'This is none of your business, Ashura.' He said slowly.

Ashura did not reply but he held his ground. Indura glared at his brother for a few seconds more before he did something that was probably an equivalent to an eyeroll floated off.

Naruto and Sasuke were standing to the side, talking to each other and shooting her looks, but Sakura could not bring herself to care. Soon after, the two of them turned and walked out of the room. Indra shot them one more glare before he followed.

'I apologize about my brother.' Ashura said quietly. He nodded at them and quickly followed Naruto out of the room, leaving behind a tense air.

Finally, 'Indra seemed like a prick.' Hashirama said. 'Like Madara here, just ten times worse.'

Madara glared at this friend and grunted.

Hashirama grinned. 'Maybe the broodiness was slowly eased away every generation since him.'

Sakura let out a heavy breath and sat back down on her seat. "I don't think I can move." She admitted.

Suddenly, she didn't mind Izuna's distant voice so much.

* * *

 **So...this story is being edited in the first time in forever~ Yay~**

 _ **Darque: It really has been a while, hm?**_

 **Raven: Well, yeah. Have you got an idea as to where this story'll go from now on?**

 _ **Darque: Still nothing fixed...but it's coming :)...I hope...**_

 **Raven:...Okay. And how about that test from the other day?**

 _ **Darque: 15/50. A beautiful score.**_

 **Raven:...30%...**

 _ **Darque: Wow, how'd you know?**_

 **Raven:...How's your math?**

 _ **Darque: I don't think my teacher likes me.**_

 **Raven:...Gee, I wonder why.**

 _ **Darque:** **She caught me drawing the other day and now she always has an eye on me.**_

 **Raven:...Gee, I wonder why.**

 **Read and Review**


	17. Chapter 17

_**Chapter SEVENTEEN**_

The next few days were tense, but overall not too bad.

Indra continued to glare while Asuna muttered apologies. Izuna and Tobirama bickered to the side while Yagura and Hashirama tried to keep a clingy Hashirama off of Sakura.

The only one enjoying this was Rin.

"Oh, look at this wonderful friendship." She would say. "When I was a kid, it was all war, no time for friendly banter."

Sakura eyed the kunai Izuna was trying to shove into the Nidaime Hokage's eyes and clutched at her hands. "That's friendly?" She asked.

Rin ginned. "Of course! Can you not see the friendship in the air?"

Sakura squinted but really could not see. "No."

Rin waved her hand dismissively. "Don't fret, Sakura-chan." She said. "You'll come to understand."

If this was friendship, Sakura didn't think she wanted to understand it. She turned around when she heard a yelp and watched with wide eyes and Hashirama flew at Madara, trying to wrap his friend into a hug. Madara shoved him off with a hand to the face.

She didn't really want it either.

* * *

Time passed smoothly, Sakura liked to think. No one else had suddenly just passed and both Kaito and Hajime stuck to her as close as they could.

Tobirama and Izuna, while still obviously disliking each other, managed to keep blood spilling to the incident upon Tobirama's arrival.

Sakura managed to overall avoid both Ashura and Indra and neither attempted any more contact.

The first Hokage had also taken to sleeping on the roof of Sakura's roof and after two days, Sakura was worried that this new...trend would end up bringing her roof down, especially when Madara joined him a while later, followed by his younger brother. Tobirama had joined them too, like he wasn't going to let Izuna get ahead of him.

"They are boys." Rin had said, from where she had been sitting on the floor beside Sakura's futon. "You need to let them be."

Yagura had snorted. "They are the founders of the roots of the Hidden Villages." He leaned back in mid air, like he was lying down on an invisible bed. "They should act like it."

"They're dead, old man." Rin had said. "Let them be."

And like every other moment where the word 'dead' came up, they had gone silent, because there was _somebody_ pretending to be Yagura, running about and, as Yagura often complained, "ruining his reputation".

Sometimes, Sakura wondered if Yagura fell under the 'ghost with things still left undone' but Yagura was clearly a spirit, someone who had traveled over to the other side already and as with the rules of the Haruno family, they were to simply observe when it came to the happenings of the living world.

* * *

In what seemed like a blink of an eye, years had passed.

The class got used to the Harunos, to an extent where no one turned to look a second time when one of them exclaimed loudly in class to something they could not see.

Still, like Sakura had come to know, _nothing_ went well for an extended period of time, and she didn't know why she was surprised, because bad luck seemed to follow her everywhere she went.

Sakura and both of her cousins had passed the Genin exams with flying colors and they entered the classroom the next day feeling excited about the change soon to come to their environment.

They all sat down, excited. Hajime was put on a team with a branch member of the Inuzuka clan and some civilian. Kaito was allocated a team with a branch Yamanaka and a second generation student.

Sakura sat there, feeling a little excited. Rin and Yagura were fighting a little way off, because yagura had wanted to see who Sakura had been placed with while Rin was trying to stop him.

Madara had gauged how important this must feel to freshly minted Genin and had managed to drag Izuna and the Senju brothers off somewhere else.

* * *

"Team Seven will be Uchiha Sasuke, Namikaze Naruto, and Haruno Sakura."

Then again, maybe they should have stayed.

* * *

Sakura did not know what the Hokage had been thinking. To an extent, she understood, because both Sasuke and Naruto were high on the hierarchy line within the village, and she too, was a clan heir, and was able to claim to be on equal footing with them.

Still, there are plenty of other clan heiresses in their year and she is sure the Hyuuga girl would be a much more effective member on this team, which seemed to represent both the image of Konoha's power as well as the promises of their future.

And not to mention, she would have to be near Ashura and Indra again. On cue, both turned to look at her, their expressions unreadable.

This really sucked.

* * *

The moment the last of the teams had been called, Sakura pulled back to the very back of the classroom and planted herself on the floor there. Naruto and Sasuke were whispering to each other and shooting her looks, but Sakura did not even want to know what they were saying. Yagura looked like he was getting ready to offer to eavesdrop, but he seemed to notice she was down a little more than he had initially thought.

"Is it that bad?" He asked her softly.

Sakura ran a hand through her hair. "I...don't really know. They're just, so much older and..." Sakura remembered the way Indra's chakra alone had been enough to force her, who technically lived on an entirely different terrain, onto the ground from pressure alone. "They can affect the living so much more than anyother I know."

Rin hovered over her worriedly but it was Yagura that offered her words of comfort. He placed a hand gently over her wrist and Sakura noticed with a start that the former Mizukage was very small for his supposed age. "We are bound, Sakura." He said. "As long as I am alive...uh, still existing, I will not let anyone harm you, dead or alive."

Rin nodded in agreement. "You have us, as well as the _Founders of Konoha_ at your back." She said. "You have nothing to worry about."

Yagura gauged her reaction then smirked. "After this, maybe we can explore a few more aspects of our binding."

* * *

 **Here's chapter seventeen...**

 **So...a time skip.**

 _ **Darque: I actually didn't really like this chapter.**_

 **Raven: Oh?**

 _ **Darque: I don't know. Nothing really happened and I found it was pretty difficult to write and that made this update take slightly longer too.**_

 **Raven: Well, now that we've had a time skip, we can get to the more interesting parts, hm?**

 _ **Darque: Well, yes, I guess...? Hm, yeah.**_

 **Read and Review~**


	18. Chapter 18

_**Chapter EIGHTEEN**_

"Where is he?" Naruto asked no one in particular. "It's been hours?"

"Shut up." Sasuke snapped, looking equally annoyed. "Your whining isn't going to make him come any faster."

Yagura looked pretty put out himself, and he kept muttering threats under his breath. Asura and Indra had taken up position on either side of the classroom, and they didn't make a sound.

However, Rin, the person Sakura had thought would be the most upset with such lateness, was quiet. Sakura glanced over at her, who had been quiet the entire wait. "Are you okay?" She asked.

Rin blinked and subconsciously rubbed at her chest. 'Oh, no, I just...'

"You know, I bet it's Kakashi." Naruto said. "He's the only one who can be _this_ late."

Rin flinched at the name and Sakura turned her attention fully to the girl. "You aren't okay." She said flatly. Then, a little more softly, she asked, "Did you know him?"

'I...I did.' Rin finally said. 'But I didn't just know him.'

Just then, the door to the room flew open and Sakura turned in time to see the eraser Naruto had placed there fall on top of a head of silver. The man did not even look fazed as he sighed and shook his head. "Naruto..." He shook his head out. "Well, my first impression is, I hate all of you." He smiled. "Meet me up on the roof."

Rin flinched and Sakura felt a surge of anger for however this man he thought he was. She mustered her most deadliest glare and stared at where the man had been before she turned to make her way up.

* * *

The man was waiting for them. "You sure took your time."

Sakura glared at him some more as she sat down.

Kakashi smiled. "Now, why don't we start with introductions? You-"

"Why do we have to do something like that?" Naruto demanded. "We know you."

"Does everyone?" The man turned to look at Sakura and she saw Rin move away from her, like she was trying to avoid the man's gaze. She saw Yagura float over as if to comfort her.

"Oh, right, Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned. "Well, then I think you should go first." He decided. "Go first Kakashi."

Sakura glanced at the man one more time and decided she _really_ did not like this guy. She listened to his introduction, then Naruto and Sasuke's.

She glances over at Rin again. "Are you okay?" She asked.

Rin nodded. 'I'm' fine, Sakura-chan. Sorry. I-I knew Kakashi.' She said. 'But it wasn't just that. I liked him. We were on the same team.' Rin smiled, and for a split second, Sakura thought she heard pain in her tone and something dark in her eyes.

'He killed me.'

And Sakura did not know what happened, but in the next second, Kakashi was holding her wrist down as she slashed at the man with her weapon. Yagura was crouched beside her, looking torn and Rin was desperately saying something. Naruto and Sasuke were both on their feet, eyes wide and frozen.

"Ma ma, it seemed like you were the less upset by my lateness, but I guess I was wrong." Kakashi said.

Sakura yanked her wrist back and stumbled backwards, eyes wide. She dropped her weapon and clutched her hand into her shirt.

 _What was she doing?_

'Sakura-chan!' Rin was crouched beside her. 'I'm so sorry, did I do that?'

Sakura looked up at the older female in confusion and glanced down when she realized that her wrist was lightly burning, just in time to see a section of her thorn markings turn back from a red glow to black.

"Sa-Sakura-chan?" Naruto called nervously.

Sakura glanced up, not sure what to say. "I-"

"Why don't you introduce yourself, Sakura?" Kakashi said, cutting in.

Sakura stared down at her heads. "I...My name is Haruno Sakura." She said. "I like...I like my friends. I dislike...I..."

She feels something cold and wispy on her head and she looks up to see Yagura looking down at her. 'Rest for a while, Sakura.' He said.

"Huh?"

Yagura's hand trails down her face before he reaches for her hand. His fingers feel unusually real as they link hands and then everything goes black.

* * *

'She's going to be pretty upset.' Rin said softly.

Yagura ran a hand over the ground, feeling something solid for the first time in what seemed like forever. He, or her, because this was not his body, not really, looked up and met Rin's gaze, noting that Sakura's eyes were currently a pale pink, like his.

Good, that would make it more believable.

He stood up and thought back to his Mizukage days. He crossed his arms, picturing that he was in front of someone he had to show superiority to.

"My ward is tired, Copy Ninja Kakashi." He said. "Give me the details for tomorrow's plans and I will make sure to relay them to her."

Kakashi was quick to catch on that this was no longer his maybe to be student standing over him and narrowed his eye a little. "Who might I be dealing with?" He asked, because it was a pretty well known fact that spirits could take over the bodies of those with Haruno blood within them.

Yagura shrugged. "That is none of your concern."

"Sakura-"

Yagura promptly turned away. "Let us go, Rin."

Rin looked started at suddenly being addressed. Her head whipped over to gauge Kakashi's reaction. The man froze and Yagura felt a sadistic pleasure coursing through him at the pained look on his face.

He then realized that these emotions were not his, and not Sakura's. The second mark on his wrist was burning and when he looked over at Rin, her expression looked torn between sadness and something else.

Strong emotions of spirits bound to Sakura could influence her thoughts, emotions and even actions. Yagura tucked this away into his mind.

"Rin? Is she, she-"

"Details for tomorrow." Yagura interrupted him, because he knew, better than most, that with battle came circumstances and sacrifices and loss, but that did not mean he had to forgive anyone that brought upon such emotions onto the people he had come to care for.

* * *

 **So...here's chapter eighteen~**

 _ **Darque: Okay, so this took a while because I wasn't sure how I shoudl go about this.**_

 **Raven: Oh?**

 _ **Darque: Yeah, I mean one of the important parts of this story was Rin and Kakashi's relationship, and I didn't know Rin woudl feel about that. She came back to the world of the living only after meeting Sakura, so seeing Kakashi again hasn't crossed her mind up until it actually happened, and while she might have thought initially 'he had no choice, we had no choice', I wasn't sure how someone would feel after meeting their murderer. I'd be very bitter.**_

 **Raven: Uh, nice long explanation. You sound smart. Wow.**

 _ **Darque: Jee, thanks. But yeah.**_

 **Raven: I guess I'll be pretty upset too. I mean, after all these years of thinking about it and to top it off, Rin liked Kakashi, right?**

 _ **Darque: That's sad.**_

 **Raven; Very sad.**

 _ **Darque: Sigghhhhh.**_

 **Read and Review~**


	19. Chapter 19

_**Chapter NINETEEN**_

When Sakura woke up, she didn't really wake up. The world she opened her eyes to was one of red and black, the Yomi no Kuni. Here, she picked the scenery she wanted to arrive in.

However, something was a little different, and that was Yagura standing very still before a window like square floating in the air.

It took her mere seconds to realize that she was looking through her eyes, the eyes of her awake body and that it was Yagura controlling it. She had seen a few of her clansmen under the control of spirits they were close to, but she had never actually experienced this before.

She walked slowly over to the window and caught the last few words Yagura curtly threw at Kakashi before he spun around and stalked off. Rin hesitated for a heartbeat before she quickly followed.

Without thinking, Sakura called out. "Rin..."

The window stopped moving as Yagura himself stopped walking. 'Sakura?'

Sakura turned around to glance at the figure of Yagura standing in the Yami no Kuni, but he hadn't moved.

The voice had come from reality. "Yagura?"

'Yeah, I can hear you. Sorry about that. Just had to say a few words to your teacher.'

"Oh, no, it's fine, I guess?" Sakura felt weird, talking to nothing. Of course, she usually talked to things that technically didn't exist, but atleast she could see them. Right now, she was talking to a Yagura who was looking through her eyes.

"Rin. How's Rin? Is she okay?"

'She's fine. A little bewildered, but she's fine.'

"Okay." Sakura glanced around again. "And how's this work?"

Yagura hummed thoughtfully. 'Currently it's me in control of your body. Your chakra shifted ever so slightly to accompany me. In a sense, it feels almost like mine.' He raised a hand slowly. 'I think I'll be able to pull a few of my techniques like this.'

"Wow." Sakura blinked in surprise. "That could be useful in the near future. How about-"

'Why don't you just come back?'

Sakura blinked. "Uh...I have no idea how?"

Yagura's footsteps stopped. 'Well, isn't that a pity. I guess I'll have to walk around in your stead.'

Sakura stared through the window blankly and as though it had heard her inner thoughts, there was a shattering sound and suddenly, the bits and pieces of the outside scenery were flying towards her. Sakura raised her arms to her face in alarm but when she looked up, she was standing on the streets Yagura had been a second ago.

Said Mizukage was sitting on the ground, a hand to his head, like he had been forcefully booted from her body, which he probably was. 'That was totally unfair.'

'Ignore him.' Rin floated over, a smile on her face. 'He's just glad you came back.'

'Woman, stop putting words in my mouth.'

Sakura watched Rin argue with Yagura and smiled a little. It seemed she was fine. For now. Because she was now on Hatake Kakashi's team and that meant Rin would see him everyday if she hung around.

"What did Hatake-san say?" Sakura asked. "After, you know?"

Yagura rattles off meeting times and place and something about a survival exercise? And Rin helpfully tells her to ignore Kakashi's timings and that she had three or so hours extra that what the man wanted them to believe.

Sakura spends a while longer wandering around, thinking of the different possibilities of what the man wanted, before with a sigh, she trotted back towards the compound, where no doubt Hashirama and friends were waiting for her.

She liked them, of course, but they could be so _tiring_ , to an un-Hokage-like level.

* * *

Sakura woke up with an already existing pool of dread in the pit of her stomach. It grew and grew as she packed and got dressed for the day, and by the time she met up with the spirits haunting her, she must have looked very bad, because the moment they saw her, they all scrambled up to her in panic.

'Oh my, Sakura-chan!' Hashirama exclaimed. 'Are you okay?'

Sakura looked blankly up at the man, trying to register what he had said.

"Ah, yes, of course." She said, then stumbled past the First Hokage.

Izuna caught her next. 'Sakura-chan! Was it the tree? It was the tree, wasn't it? _What did the tree do to you?_ '

Sakura stared at the male, having no idea what he was saying, then ignored in favor of continuing on her way.

Madara approached her as she was wearing her shoes. 'Is my brother causing you trouble?'

Sakura considered this for a second then shook her head. "Not really."

Madara frowned, looking a little lost, as though his brother had been the cause of most problems for a long while and didn't know what to do when he wasn't. Instead, the older Uchiha simply waited for her to finish then followed her out the door. 'Then perhaps it is your team?' He didn't even wait for a confirmation as he nodded to himself.

"It is." Sakura said anyways, then sighed again. "Ashura, Indra, Naruto-san, Sasuke-san, Hatake Kakashi." She sighed again. "It's like all my current problems were wrapped up into one and given to me in a take out."

Madara looked confused all over again and Sakura left a smile crack through her frown. "Never mind."

Tobirama watched her walk past with a frown on his face but he wordlessly joined the band of floating spirits behind her, all of whom had refused to be left behind today after they had agreed to do so yesterday.

Her cousins had left much earlier and the twins were out on a mission. A few of her clansmen greeted her as Sakura continued what felt like the longest trek to the front gates.

Yagura and Rin were waiting for her at the gates and they looked like they were in the middle of a heated argument.

'Sakura!' Yagura called, without even looking up. 'Tell this woman that the best way to show someone not to underestimate you is to simply crush everyone!'

'You can't do that! Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are your future to be teammates and Kakashi yoru superior and teacher. Not to mention, one should not reveal all their trump cards at the beginning.'

'But it won't be all, would it? It'll be just me and a little water magic-'

'Now now, what are you arguing about?' Hashirama asked, hands raised placatingly.'

'Sakura-chan's graduation test is coming up today, right now.' Rin explained. 'And each Jounin teacher can do a test of their choice. Knowing Kakashi, it'll be something a little twisted, and Yagura insists Sakura should just storm in and beat everyone up so they have no complaints.'

Yagura rolled his eyes. 'If she can beat up a Jounin, Konoha should have no problem accepting her as Genin, right? It's not like I'm asking her to wander in and demand to be made an ANBU from get go.'

Sakura slowly raised her hand. "Uh...I can't beat up a Jounin though."

Yagura waved her off dismissively. 'You won't be doing the beating up. It'll be me, maybe Rin, or anyone here who wants to-'

'People will not be amused if Sakura-chan suddenly sprouted a tree.' Rin said sharply.

Yagura rolled his eyes again.

Hashirama seemed to take offence to the tree comment and butted in with a detailed explanation of why hsi technique was superior in most ways, which in turn seemed to annoy the two Uchiha present, who began rambling on about how _fire could burn trees, so there._

"Guys-" Sakura tried, unsuccessfully, to catch their attention again, because Kakashi being always late or not, they were pushing it. She glanced up at the only sensible person around, who happened to be Tobirama, and was surprised to see a flicker of sympathy in his eyes.

'If you dealt with this long before I came here, I guess I can respect you a little.' He then floated right past them as they were nothing more than a group of children arguing and Sakura took the cue to follow.

If they ever noticed, they knew the way to the training grounds, right?

* * *

 **So, here's chapter nineteen~**

 _ **Darque: HOLY I AM SO DEAD SOMEONE PLEASE HELP MEEEEEEE**_

 **Raven:...?**

 _ **Darque: I HAVE A FLUTE GRADE EXAM**_ **NEXT WEEK** ** _AND I AM SO DEDEDEDED I CANNOT REMEMBER SCALES FOR LIFE_**

 **Raven: Full stops girl. You're forgetting them.**

 _ **DARQUE: DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY TIPS FOR MEMORIZING THOSE CREATIONS OF HELL?**_

 **Raven:...**

 **Read and Review~**


	20. Chapter 20

_**Chapter TWENTY**_

Sakura and Tobirama arrived at the training grounds just as Sasuke and Naruto broke apart from a wrestling fight.

"Well, I'm off." Sakura muttereD and she took a deep, calming breath.

'I wish you luck.' Tobirama said curtly, then glanced around almost cautiously before he leaned in. 'Yagura's water techniques are truly mere 'water magic' and are no match to mine.' He said quietly. 'If you actually need aid, I shall assist you. I will not allow him to shame Water users for his own amusement.' He nodded, as though he were satisfied with the message he was trying to convey, then casually leaned back and crossed his arm.

A little too casually, if Sakura had to say.

Had Tobirama come with her so that he could input his own two cents without interruption?

"Uh, thank you?" Sakura's reply came out very unsure but the man did not seem to notice. Instead, he squared his shoulders and walked past Asura, then Indra, who were watching Naruto and Sasuke bicker like they were their own summons fighting in eachothers place.

The two boys, however, seems not to sense anything and they both broke apart when they noticed her.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called. "What happened yesterday? You tried to kill Kakashi and then you..."

Tobirama full on glared at the blond and Sakura noticed in between quickening breaths that the Second Hokage had been trying to make her forget. She felt a surge of gratefulness for him and shoved away her nervousness. "I apologize, I was a little nervous yesterday." She smiled.

Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other uneasily but then seemed to accept it.

Kakashi chose that moment to arrive. It was as though he was carefully avoiding shifting his gaze towards her. He explained the bell test to them and Sakura noted drily that Rin had been correct.

In an instant, the training field of a team turned into a battle field of two versus one and Sakura was left wondering the point of splitting into groups of three before doing this test.

Sakura hid in the trees the moment Kakashi called for a start. Tobirama followed her and kept eye around while she thought things through.

"Will you help me?" She asked quietly.

Tobirama nodded. "I am limited with what I can do." He told her. "And I doubt even i will be able to stand up to Asura or Indra, let alone both."

"That's okay." She said. "They scare me too."

Tobirama sent out clones to keep an eye out on her teammates. 'Neither one are retaliating.' He noted. 'They merely watched my clone float by.'

Sakura sighed in relief at the lack of interference on their part.

"Okay. And Kakashi?"

'Your two teammates are fighting him.' Tobirama said. 'He is playing with them. I believe he will break away soon and come for you.' He narrowed his eyes, deep in thought, then sighed. 'I apologize, I will make this quick.' He hand lashed out and Sakura jerked back in surprise, forgetting that he could not touch her. She fell back and cut her hand on a branch. "Ow."

Tobirama reached for a blade and cut his own finger. 'Show me your hand.'

In a daze, Sakura did as told. Tobirama's mouth on wound felt like a cold breeze and a second later, when he held his finger out to him she understood. "I didn't know it could be done like this." She said as she stuck her tongue out. "Yagura's was very fancy and everything."

Tobirama drew back. 'He is just showy.' He said. 'We do not have the time or the place to do it his way. You will have to settle with this.'

Sakura shook heehewd. "I'm not complaining." She said. "It was just...a little sudden." She smiled a little, because Tobirama had not been the prickly guy Izuna, Hashirama and Yagura had claimed him to be. "Thank you."

Before Sakura could react, she felt too real hands grab her chin and warm lips on her forehead and a burning on her wrist.

Tobirama drew back. 'I imagine my brother and the Uchiha will be very displeased.' He, on the other hand, sounded very pleased with himself.

Kakashi was approaching with obviously loud steps, no doubt to give her a small chance to fight. Sakura giggled. "Shall we?"

Tobirama draws himself up to full height and crosses his arms. He nodded and suddenly, images flashed through Sakura's mind. Hand signee, chakra flows, taijutsu moves, everything.

'This is a step before the full body takeover Yagura performed.' Tobirama explained. 'I will lend you my chakra and my techniques.' He said. 'This is your fight. The rest of the fight will be yours.'

Sakura could feel water at her fingertips and her senses are suddenly sharper She nodded gratefully. "Thank you."

'I wish you luck.'

* * *

Yagura was not very pleased, to say the least, when he realized the sun was almost at the top of the sky both Sakura and Tobirama were nowhere to be seen.

'This is the problem with old men.' He seethed. 'They have no awareness of time.'

'Are you blaming us?' Izuna asked, eyes narrowed, and Yagura rolled his eyes.

'Not to mention they seem unaware of it too.' He sighed. 'Do you see any other old men around?' He glanced over at Rin, who seemed as quiet as usual and recalled the strange moment during their brief interaction with Kakashi.

The man had seemed distraught at the mention of the girl's name and he noted that everyone's actions, Sakura's and even his, appeared to have be driven by a flash of Rin's momentary bitterness and pain.

And if he had to say it, guilt. A bucket load of it.

Rin seemed to notice his gaze and looked up. 'What?'

'Would you rather you stay here?' He asked, words calculative and careful. 'We are going to be seeing your...your former teammate.'

More pain and more guilt flashed through her eyes. The bitterness, on the other hand seemed to be receding from the moment they had left Kakashi's vicinity yesterday.

'He killed you.' He said softly. 'But he did not murder you.'

* * *

 **So, here's chapter twenty!?**

 _ **Darque: So, a few people have pointed out that it was Rin that killed herself using Kakashi. I just wanted to say that we know that.**_

 **Raven: Maybe we didn't elaborate enough and it'll be explained later, but it's not really too big of a** **realization** **or anything.**

 _ **Darque: We did a little of that in this chapter, but yeah...**_

 **Raven: Uh...right, yeah.**

 **Read and Review~**


	21. Chapter 21

_**Chapter TWENTY ONE**_

Sakura didn't really have the time she would have liked to try out her newly borrowed powers but the pictures in her own mind seemed more than clear enough for her to replicate techniques she had never seen before. Her chakra control had always been good and once she had hidden her chakra the best she could, she clambered up a tree and perched herself right above her teacher, who had paused and was looking around casually.

She was sure that given time, he could sense her out, masked chakra or not. That thought in mind, she kicked off her perch and right down towards the man.

"Suiton: Suidan no jutsu!" The unfamiliar words felt nostalgic as they left her mouth. She had never borrowed techniques from those bound to her but it came like something she had been doing all her life. She feels her lungs fill with liquid for a brief second but when she sends out the attack, there is so much more water than she had thought possible.

Kakashi leapt away from the attack and Sakura winced as she thought of how she was probably not using the techniques as it should have been, application wise, anyways. She would need time to figure it out.

Still, now was the fight, and she was going to make the best of the powers that had been bestowed upon her.

She recalled Yagura once telling her that while water techniques could be produced of nothing, it was easier to be cast using a body of already existing water. Visions flashed before her eyes and she could feel Tobirama hovering behind her. Her hands once again flash through hand signs and she feels the water from her first attack responding. "Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!" She feels a rush as her chakra and Tobirama's chakra within her brings a huge water dragon to life. She sends it crashing towards Kakashi, who vanished into the trees . The dragon quickly reforms and shoots after the Jounin.

"Wow." She whispered.

"Your method of application could do some work." Tobirama told her blankly. "But the actual casting of the techniques are almost flawless.

"That's because they're yours." Sakura said without missing a beat. "I am merely borrowing them." She could feel chakra that was not hers filling up the area around her and she could feel Kakashi's chakra in the trees. "Is this what being a sensor feels like?"

Tobirama shrugged. "Perhaps"

Kakashi then appears opposite her, eye crinkled into a smile. "Naruto can perform the kage bunshin no jutsu, Sasuke a C rank fire technique and now you can perform B rank water techniques?"

"It isn't me." She told him earnestly. "You should have at least suspected that."

Kakashi shrugged. "As open as your clan is with clan techniques, I'm sure there are things we don't know of."

Sakura smiled. "It's not like we're hiding it." She said. "Sometimes, it's just a little awkward to bring up in a normal conversation."

Kakashi laughed drily. "I assume so. So, who's with you today? Is it-" The Jounin caught himself.

Sakura winced. "I'm sorry about my...friend yesterday." She said. "He meant no harm, though. He was just trying to protect us." Kakashi did not say anything and she quickly continued. "And no, he's not here today. Not right now, anyways."

"So you know water techniques?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura shook her head. "These powers are borrowed." She said no more and instead she turned to Tobirama questioningly, who merely shrugged, leaving the decision up to her. "I'm sure you know my current partner." Her hand flew to her pouch and she drew a kunai. "I'll be taking those bells."

Her hand wrapped around the handle of the weapon in a way she wasn't used to and she briefly paused. She felt Tobirama's presence behind her and her hand automatically relaxed.

Kunais weren't a strong point of hers, but that didn't seem to matter too much.

Her speed surprised her as she launched herself at Kakashi. The man stiffened just a little before he was dancing away from her blow. She strength at which she had taken a swipe at him threw her briefly off balance and she skidded away in order to right herself.

She could feel the skill and the knowledge, Tobirama's experience, flooding through her body but she realized with a jolt that her body would not be able to keep up with the power currently running through her.

She could sense Sasuke and Naruto crouched out of sight, no doubt observing her fight, and she gritted her teeth and steeled herself.

She could not be distracted, not right now.

She called at the water dancing at her fingertips and after throwing an enormous wave at the Jounin, she flew at Kakashi again.

* * *

Yagura was not very impressed when he finally found the training grounds, only to see Sakura sitting on the ground, tied to a stump, while Naruto and Sasuke hovered a little distance away, glancing uneasily at her, then at the lunch boxes in their hands.

'Those brats-'

'Wait!' Rin called out. 'Don't! This-this is a part of Kakashi's test. Don't interfere.'

Yagura scowled but he did as asked.

Izuna looked as murderous as him and Hashirama and Madara looked unsure of what to do. It was then he noticed Tobirama appearing from the trees.

'To-' He wa rouhly cut off when he felt a sudden burn on his wrist. Beside him Rin gasped, and he quickly glanced down, just in time to see a mark appearing on his wrist, right above his and Rin's. He looked up and Tobirama was looking at him, expression blank.

He then smirked, smugly.

Izuna seemed to catch on in the next second. 'Tobirama! You bastard!'

Sakura jumped and quickly glanced in theri direction. Yagura could see the bewilderment in her eyes before she began frantically shaking her head.

Hashirama looked very lost as he glanced at his brother, then at the fuming Izuna. 'Huh?'

'I was supposed to be next.' Izuna seethed, seeming to not have noticed. 'I-'

'Sakura needed the assistance.' Tobirama said curtly. 'None of you were there.' At Hashirama's confused look, he raised his wrist, showing off the thorn markings on his wrist.

Hashirama seemed to put two and two together. He blinked, then his face crumpled. 'Tobiii! How could you?'

'This is all because you old men had to argue over petty things.' Yagura snapped. 'You wasted precious time and now Sakura is tainted with the chakra of Tobirama.'

'What did you say, brat?' Tobirama asked, eyes glowing. He loomed over Yagura's shorter stature. 'I believe you too were caught up in the 'petty things'.'

They all paused when they heard the _swoosh_ of a sword being drawn. Izuna stood there, eyes blazing red. Then he was gone and Tobirama met the enraged Uchiha's blow with his own sword.

Izuna did not seem to care. 'You. Will. PAAAAYYY!'

* * *

Sakura tugged at her bindings. "Guys! Stop!"

No one seemed to be listening. "Guys!"

She turned to Sasuke and Naruto, who were looking at her like she had grown another head, and pleaded. "Please, cut me free." She glanced nervously around for Kakashim, then decided that now was not the time. "Please hurry!"

Naruto, still in a daze, reached towards her. Sasuke froze and turned to the boy, maybe to stop him, but Sakura was already free and hurling herself across the training grounds. "Guys!"

She ran right through the fireball Izuna had breathed out and noticed how no one else was trying to stop the pair. "GUYS!"

Everyone froze and Izuna was the first to dart over to her, fight forgotten. 'Sakura! Oh, my poor girl. Did Tobi do anything to you?'

'Of course not.' Tobirama scoffed, then added. 'Don't call me Tobi.'

'No, I'm fine.' Sakura crossed her arms. 'He helped me.'

Izuna cringed. 'I wanted to be next.' He muttered. He ran a finger over Sakura's wrist, where Tobirama's thorns were still burning from the marking. 'I waited for so long-'

"You could have just asked." Sakura said, surprised at how desperate he sounded. "Just asked me whenever I was free."

Izuna froze and shot Yagura a dirty look. 'Mizukage over there said you only accepted one binding a year.'

Sakura turned to yagura, who glanced away. "He's lying." She said flatly.

She didn't notice Kakashi reappear by the stump, not with the way Izuna now flew at Yagura, weapon drawn.

* * *

 **Sooo, here's the next chapter!  
**

 _ **Darque: Sorry about the delay Raven's in hospital :)**_

 _ **Darque: He collapsed, and was told it was due to stress and overworking, or something.**_

 _ **Darque: He's supposed to be the smart one.**_

 _ **Darque: But it's been a while since an update, so I got this one out.**_

 _ **Darque: But my boy's not here, so I have no idea.**_

 _ **Darque: Raven's fine now, though, so...**_

 _ **Darque: Uhh...yeah.**_


	22. Chapter 22

_**Chapter TWENTY TWO**_

Kakashi watched from the shadows as Sakura waved her arms and shouted at something only she could see. He glanced over at Naruto and Sasuke, and saw Uchiha looking anywhere but at the girl and Naruto openly staring, food falling out of his gaping mouth. Kakashi resisted the urge to go up to his teacher's son and close his mouth for him.

Instead, he simply revealed himself. Naruto and Sasuke instantly noticed him and got warily to their feet. The rope Naruto had cut for Sakura lay between them, and as if he had noticed Kakashi staring at it, Sasuke sheepishly kicked it away. Kakashi inwardly laughed, then turned back to Sakura who's own fight seemed to be escalating, just that he could only hear one side of it, so it went something like this:

"No."

"Nononono!"

"Stop!"

"I said stoooooppp!"

Naruto coughed in an attempt to hold back his laugh. Instantly, Sakura whirled around. "Hey! Don't do that!"

The blond froze like a shinobi caught by enemy guards. "Oh-."

Sakura frowned and put her arms on her hips. "That's not nice." She said scoldingly. "Think about how you'd feel if someone did that to you."

"No Sakura-chan, I mean, I didn't mean to-"

Sakura sighed. "If you don't stop this right now, I'm going to send you home." She paused. "All of you."

"Huh?"

Sasuke scoffed. "I don't think she's talking to you."

Naruto blinked, then turned red. "Wha-"

Sakura sighed. "That's better."

Kakashi stared blankly as the girl finally turned around and smiled. "I'm sorry about that." She said. "Where were we?"

* * *

Izuna scowled over Sakura's shoulder at Yagura. 'Sakura-chan, move so that I can cut his head off.'

Sakura stayed firmly planted where she was. "No."

Yagura, however, seemed more than willing to take the fight. 'Is that a threat? That's a threat huh? Then, as self defense, I'll blow you to kingdom come!' Yagura brought his hands up.

"Nononono!" Sakura whirled around and waved her arms. Of course, she knew their fight would not mess with reality, but it was so _distracting_ when there was a historical fight going on right behind her as she tried to play 'normal human being'.

'I'll throw those words right back at you!' Izuna began flashing through hand signs and Sakura swiped her hand through his in panic.

"Stop!"

Yagura took Izuna's moment of shock to attack. 'Suiton-'

"I said stoooooppp!"

Yagura did not stop, simply because he knew his attack would not hurt her. Still, Sakura did not appreciate an enormous wave crashing through her. These days, she could almost feel it and while she stayed dry, she certainly felt drenched for a second. "Hey! Don't do that!"

Yagura scowled and crossed his arms. 'I did not hurt you.' He huffed. 'I just extinguished the annoying Uchiha's pride.'

Sakura sighed. "That's not nice." She insisted. "Think about how you'd feel if someone did that to you."

'He started-'

"If you don't stop this right now," She began threateningly. "I'm going to send you home. All of you."

That instantly shut them up.

'Sorry.' Izuna said sheepishly and sent Yagura a look. The Mizukage simply ruffled Sakura's hair, then returned the glare.

Sakura grinned. "That's better." Finally, she turned around to her team. Naruto and Sasuke were staring, and Kakashi stood behind them, expression unreadable. For now, though, she really couldn't care less. Once again, she had saved the world from destruction caused by a battle between very _very_ strong shinobi! Seh deserved an award, she was sure.

"I'm sorry about that." She said. "Where were we?"

* * *

In the end, Kakashi told them they had passed, then explained a bunch of things about teamwork that Sakura was very _very_ sure they had not done, but hey, they passed! So it was probably fine.

'The important part was that Naruto-kun cut you free.' Rin told her. 'Well, it wasn't really supposed to go that way, but I guess you can thank them for that.' She gestures towards Yagura and Izuna, who now refused to even look at each other. 'You guys covered the points he wanted to see in order to pass you, but I think he's more confused than anything, cause I'm sure this has never happened before.'

Sakura scowled in the direction of the other spirits and sighed. "This should not be this tiring."

Rin laughed sympathetically.

"Was it tomorrow at six?" Sakura asked. She kicked off her shoes and made a beeline towards her room, leaving the spirits to their argument in the garden. "Should I be aware of anything?"

'He'll be late.' Rin said, and there was something sad in her eyes. 'You probably have until nine.'

Sakura eyed the female before she nodded. "Okay." She waved at a cousin of hers, who had died in the war, and he waved back. "I'm planning to make Yagura and friends stay behind." She said. "But you can come if you want."

Rin laughed again. 'I doubt they'd take that quietly.' She said.

"They don't have a choice," Sakura said darkly. "I cannot deal with that every day."

'Maybe you can figure out what the training of the day will be, then take with you a few that would benefit you the most?' Rin suggested.

"Maybe." Sakura opened the room to her door, then waved Rin in as well.

'As for tomorrow...' Rin goes quiet. 'Maybe I'll...I'll go with you.'

Sakura smiled gently. "Okay."

* * *

 **So, here's chapter twenty two~**

 **Raven: Dear Readers, we are aware that our writing schedule has always been unstable and recently, there are often weeks in between updates. This year is the last year of high school for both of us. We currently have mock exams in preparation for our finals, which are fast approaching. We will try our best, though, and we hope you continue to support us.**

 _ **Darque: Secondly, up until this point we have written original stories, though we have never actually gotten to finishing any of them. However, this time around, we have decided to properly plan out our story and actually try and get around to finishing it. Perhaps some time, we would like to ask for you opinion for this project of ours.**_

 **Raven: Uhh, ignore the formalities, but that's just us giving excuses for late updates.**

 _ **Darque: What he said.**_

 **Read and Review~**


	23. Chapter 23

**_Chapter TWENTY THREE_**

The next day Sakura, having heeded Rin's warning about Kakashi's tardiness, woke up at their supposed meeting time. Not know what exactly to expect, she had prepared for a few of the things that the Jounin might ask of them the previous night, and once she had changed, she made final preparations for the day.

'I think you'll be sparring today,' Rin said, watching over her as she packed. 'So that he can gauge your skill levels and figure out what you need to work on.' She let out a soft laugh as she said this. 'Then again, I don't think Kakashi will ever be teacher material. Up to this point, he's just been copying what our teacher did.'

Sakura hummed thoughtfully and tossed a few exploding tags into her pouch before she closed it and wrapped it around her thigh. She led the way out of her room and stopped dead at the entrance to the living room.

"Is that a flower pin?"  
Yagura whipped around, eyes blazing. 'Is it _not._ '

'I said the exact same thing!' Izuna called out in glee.

'You can shut up.'

Sakura quickly walked over and inspected the thing Yagura was holding. "What is that?"

'A staff.' Yagura spun it around. 'It's my signature weapon.'

"And..." Sakura had a bad feeling about this. "Why would you need your 'signature weapon' right now?"

'Because we are going to go face that Jounin instructor of yours.' He says, tone exasperated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Uh, what are you talking about?" Sakura spun around and finally realized that all her spirit companions, apart from Tobirama, were wearing some kind of armor. "Wait a second. You, none of you, are going to be coming with me."

'That's not happening.' Yagura said blankly.

'Uh, what are _you_ talking about?' Izuna said at the same time.

'But Sakura-chan!' Hashirama gasped.

Madara simply stared at her.

Sakura threw her arms up and turned to TObirama. "What do you think?"

'I am surrounded by idiots.' Tobirama replied, without missing a beat. Then, he added 'I will be there if you need me.' He gestured his head in the direction of her wrist, blatantly showing it off.

That successfully sent the spirits into another bout of angry shouting and childish arguments. Sakura threw her arms up into the air and wondered if she could get away with banishing all of them.

* * *

When Sakura arrived at the training grounds, Naruto and Sasuke were engaged in a full out yelling match.

Sakura decided she was not interested in knowing the topic of said fight. After all, she had just survived a morning of the spirits of renowned shinobi arguing over the best kind of flower to have as decoration on a dining table, and she was, frankly, quite done with everything.

Not to mention, Asura and Indra's ever present forms did nothing to make her feel better.

"Good morning," She called.

Naruto stopped mid fight and turned towards her. "Sakura-chan! You're late!"

"Kakashi is not here yet, so technically I'm not _late_."

"That is a technicality," Sasuke pointed out.

"Fair enough," Sakura stretched. "But he cannot fault me for being late if he is even later."

"Why were your late though?" Naruto asked curiously. He shot Sasuke one last glare but seemed to decide that her answer was more interesting.

"It is well known that Hatake Kakashi is always late. I just assumed that this habit of his would extend to today and I adjusted my schedule accordingly."

She watched curiously as the blond nudged his friend, who shoved him back. The two muttered a few words amongst themselves before Naruto turned towards her sheepishly. "Uh-you see, Sakura-chan-" He shot one more look at the Uchiha, who scowled, and he sighed. "We didn't really get the chance to hear your introduction," He blurted out. "So, I,-we were thinking that we could-" He trailed off nervously.

"Oh," Sakura shrugged. "Why not?" She glanced over at Rin, suddenly very aware that she had never done something like this before, and the one time she had attempted, she had tried to kill their Jounin instructor. "My name is Haruno Sakura. Like I said, I like my friends. I dislike loud noises," She thought of how some of the spirits would scream constantly at her, trying to catch her attention. Most of them had stopped, though, after her spirit companions had grown. "My hobbies are training and learning about historical figures and my dream is to..." She frowned. "Well, I've never really thought about it, so..." She trailed off. "Is that okay?"

"Oh, yeah!" Naruto grinned. "Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan!"

"Hn," Sasuke nodded briskly at her.

Sakura smiled. "Likewise, Naruto, Sasuke."

"Oh look at you, bonding."

The three of them whipped around to find Kakashi standing there. He raised his hand. "Yo."

"Kakashi!" Naruto shouted. "You're late!"

Kakashi raised his other hand and made a placating gesture. "Well, you see, there was this black cat..."

'Sakura-chan,'

The pinkette turned away from the males and towards Rin, who was staring at something in the distance with unblinking eyes. 'Do you see that?'

Sakura turned to where Rin was pointing and saw a figure standing by the entrance to the training grounds. This someone clearly had glowing bands around his wrist, and the moment she realized his status as a ghost, not a spirit, a blowing blue thread extended out of his bindings like chains and wrapped itself around Kakashi's wrists.

With all the mess and confusion going on around her, Rin and Kakashi, she had failed to notice the presence of a powerful soul.

"Do you know who that is?" Sakura asked quietly, jerking her head towards the man.

'Who?' Hashirama asked, frowning. 'Where?'

"There," Sakura glanced over at her team, who were still bickering, and pointed. "By the stairs."

"Never seen him before," Izuna told her.

Sakura followed the thread tying the soul to the world of the living with her eyes and lowered her voice to a bare whisper not even she could hear. "I-"

'That's Hatake Sakumo,' Rin interrupted, expression unreadable. 'That's Kakashi's father.'

'Sakumo...the White Fang?' Yagura asked.

Rin nodded. 'Yes.'

Even Sakura knew of the infamous White Fang. She knew of his suicide. She could tell the man had taken his own life in order to escape his burdens, and yet, here he was, still chained down to this world.

"Either he regretted what he did, or it's something else holding him back."

'Kakashi was a boy when Hatake Sakumo killed himself,' Rin said quietly. 'He never truly forgive his father.'

"It's been years since his death," Sakura whispered. She felt pity for the ghost welling up within her. No matter how much Kakashi refused to let his father go, there must have been a small part of regret of Sakumo's part that allowed his son's anger to bind him here. She wondered if Sakura had ever resented his son for not allowing him to achieve the state of peace that had driven him to take his own life in the first place.

She glanced at Rin, who appeared to have withdrawn altogether. She wondered how this must be for her.

Finally, she glanced over at Kakashi and accidentally met his gaze. She quickly turned away then mentally berated herself for doing just that.

It seemed everything in the world was trying to stop Sakura from ever getting along with her teacher.

* * *

 **Update~**

 _ **Darque: Ello friends.**_

 **Raven: So, we're wondering if any of you know any good websites to post original stories similar to fanfiction . net, where we can receive reviews and stuff.**

 _ **Darque: We've seen a few, but if any of you could share, we'd be grateful.**_

 **Raven: And in case it wasn't obvious, we're working on an original story.**

 _ **Darque: It's a story set in a Fantasy(ish) world where every living being has a star in the sky corresponding to it and when they die, the star falls onto land, which people then use as the main energy source and stuff like that.**_

 **Raven: We won't ramble here, but if you're interested, feel free to leave a review or PM us!**

 **Read and Review~**


	24. Chapter 24

_**Chapter TWENTY FOUR**_

Sakura found herself unable to concentrate.

Of course, technically, it wasn't her fault, for she was sure no one would be able to concentrate when one of the spirits she considered her best friend partially blamed her death on her new teacher, who was also being haunted by the ghost of his own father who had committed suicide years ago and yet had been unable to pass for some unknown reason.

And as a member of the Haruno clan, she was responsible for helping these souls solve their mess.

Her head hurt just thinking about it.

When she found herself tripping for the third time on the same stupid rock as they went through kata, Kakashi stopped her. "Is something bothering you?" He asked.

Sakura blinked, unsure of how she was supposed to tell him that 'your father is haunting you, and he's been staring at you the entire time since you arrived here this morning' without sounding like some crazy lady. Of course, the Haruno clan secret was not really a secret, seeing as people knew about it, but people still found it creepy.

"No," Sakura said instead. "I'm just a little tired."

Kakashi eyed her curiously and Sakura found her eyes drawn to his wrists, where the blue thread was tied. She had to force herself to not touch them and when she looked up, it was to see Kakashi close his mouth after having said something. She blinked stupidly as the man walked off.

Sakura turned to Yagura, who had been leaning over her. "Uh, what did he..." She trailed off, her eye catching the movement of Hatake Sakumo. "Okay, he...he needs to go."

"Go where?" Yagura asked curiously.

"No, I didn't mean it like that," Sakura said. "I'm going to help him pass on to the other side, because this whole mess is awkward and distracting enough already."

Yagura pointedly eyed Kakashi, then Rin, then shrugged. "I guess," he said. "So, how exactly do you help him pass?"

Sakura glared at the blue thread. "Do you think I could like," she made scissor gestures with her hand, "just, cut it?"

"The string?" Yagura asks, raising an eyebrow.

Sakura nodded, and the man laughed. The pinkette scowled and pointedly ignored the Mizukage for the rest of the day.

* * *

Sakura returned home more tired than she had been in a long time. She didn't even know why. Maybe it had something to do with the ghost that kept staring at her?

Sakura had long gotten used to the relationship between her people and those of the dead. She was confident she was acquainted with every single Spirit that often came to the surface, and could recognize those who preferred to stay down in the Yomi as well.

However, ghosts were a different story. While the Harunos as a whole had tasked themselves with helping ghosts pass, clan members were advised to report any sightings of ghosts to adults, so that those with more experience could aid in the guidance to the World of the Dead.

Once old and considered mature enough, children were then taken out on trips in order to observe the guiding of a ghost to the Yomi no Kuni. Sakura recalled that just three or so weeks ago, a few of her cousins had accompanied a pair of older Harunos to a village near the border of the Fire country for this exact reason. The girl, who had apparently been spotted by another Haruno during a chance visit to the village she resided in during another mission, was a victim of a plague hat had killed many in the area.

Sakura had only taken off her shoes when she heard approaching footsteps. She sighed and seconds later, Yuuhi stuck his head out from around the corner. "We're discussing the ghost attached to your Jounin-sensei," he said. Someone must have seen him. It was even possible that the clan had known about Hatake Sakumo for a while. "Once you're done cleaning up, come join us."

* * *

The moment Sakura entered the room, everyone stooped talking and lowered themselves to the ground. Only when she sat down did anyone look up. "I'm sorry for the delay," she said, already used to this. "What's been discussed so far?"

"There is always a reason a ghost is unable to pass," Asahi began. "Often, it's the regret the ghost itself feels, or maybe the sense of inaccomplishment. On the rare occasion, though, it's the strong emotional bond between the ghost and a living being that holds them back."

"Rin told me that Kakashi never forgave his father for committing suicide," Sakura explained. "If it's the latter, I guess even all these years hasn't erased the emotion completely."

"Perhaps we should tell the Hokage about this," her mother says, worry lacing her voice. "This is a very rare case; it's not very often someone holds enough emotion to bind the dead to themselves."

"Hatake Kakashi fought in the Third Shinobi War,"one of her aunts pointed out. "Those who know loss can never quite bring themselves back together. Maybe whatever he experienced during the war changed him as well."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. That was the one aspect Harunos would never be able to understand. They had experience, they could listen to voices no one else could hear and see beings that had long gone. However, because of this, they had no need to fear loss, and thus, would never be able to empathize with those who's root of suffering came from the death of loved ones.

'Is it safe for you, though?' Rokuro asked, making his presence known almost as though to prove the point in her mind. 'It's not the first time if he tries to find his father through you.'

It was also a common occurrence for people to seek them out, trying to reconnect with those they had lost.

"It might be if she lets him know his father is right there," an older cousin said. "Right now, he doesn't know, and while he might suspect, he has no reason to bring it up."

'Can those haunted by ghosts not feel anything?' another of her cousins ask. She had died many years ago, during the war, and had been around since long before Sakura was born.

"They might feel something of, but I doubt anyone would suspect a ghost or a spirit right away," Sakura's father said. "Most people don't believe things they can't see."

Asahi scoffed at this. "People can breath fire and walk on trees using energy that can go beyond physical limitations, and they don't believe that this energy can go beyond death?"

Sakura thought of Kakashi. "Do-do you think I can be put in chare of guiding the ghos tof Hakate Sakumo?" She asked.

Instantly, everyone went quiet and turned ot look at her.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi's student," she said. "It will not be suspicious for me to be caught hanging around him. It's reasonable when you consider how we usually don't want to burden the living with the responsibilities of the dead."

"It'll be a good learning experience," an uncle of hers says thoughtfully.

"But if Hatake Kakashi is the reason Hatake Sakumo is unable to pass, then confrontation with him will be unavoidable," someone else said.

'Remember, you haven't accompanied anyone doing the guiding yet,' Rokuro pointed out.

"But it's not like she'll be going solo and without help," Asahi said. "We'll always be around, she can ask questions when she needs to, and we'll help her when she needs it."

"I agree," Yuuhi said, nodding slowly.

Finally, her father nods. "Very well. We'll leave this one to you, Sakura."

Her mother smiles encouragingly. "Fell free to ask for help anytime, okay?"

The meeting disbands, and Sakura already has her first question.

 _How exactly did guiding ghosts to the Yomi no Kuni work?_

* * *

 **Update~**

 _ **Darque: I'm on my old laptop right now, cause the one I usually use is being repaired, or something, and Raven is useless, so if there are stupid mistakes that the checker on my usual pc usually corrects for me, it's Raven's fault.**_

 **Raven: Gee, thanks.**

 _ **Darque: If a mistake is**_ **very _bad, though, and you can't make out what it's supposed to say, please pester Raven, and he will help you, I'm sure._**

 **Raven:...Did I do something?**

 _ **Darque: Not I'm going to go and be killed by IT again. That thing is so friggin STUPID.**_

 **Raven: Ahhhh.**

 _ **Darque:**_

 **Raven: So, she _finally_ bought the pc version of Resident Evil 4 on Steam (something she's always wanted ot do but hesitated for ht elongest time cause she has the ps2 version, which she's cleared 10 times over on ever difficulty level) and she's struggling with the controls for some unknown reason. Anyways, uh...happy reading!**

 **Read and Review~**

* * *

 **Just an additional note that I (Darque the awesome) have uploaded the first chapter of my original story (the one I asked for website suggestions) onto WATTPAD (Yay!) My username there is Darquedeath4444 (the same), and I put the link on our profile page, so if you're free, please do check it out!**

 **Here's the summary:**

 **The Oath of the Fallen Stars,**

 **In a world where every living thing has a corresponding star in the sky, Flynn Balgair, a former street rat, has given everything to build himself a name and a position within the Kingdom of Zephania. At the young age of nineteen he is the face of Zephanian diplomacy, and after having known the harshness of life in poverty, he believes himself willing to live a life of stability despite how boredom threatens to consume him.**

 **What many do not know is that everything he has built up is a result of the special power he holds. When he smiles, people turn to look and when he speaks, people listen. Years ago, he had been one of many street rats fighting for survival in the Gadael slums, and it had been these powers that had first caught the eye of the royal family. A 'Constellation' is a person with more than one corresponding star in the sky, and Flynn is told he is one of the rare people who has been granted unexplainable powers by this phenomenon. He is offered a life and a role within the royal palace in exchange for him using his powers for the good of the kingdom and it soon becomes a game for him, a game where understanding human desire gives him power and only he knows the rules.**

 **However, things change when one day, when a stranger arrives in the palace. Driven by curiosity, something he hadn't felt in a long time, Flynn allows himself to be lead away from the comfort he has long gotten used to. Revealing that he is a Constellation himself, Erkhaan leads Flynn into a world where fellow Constellations are family and their kind are hunted by the very Kingdom Flynn has served.**


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